Dancing At Lughnasa (1998)

Set in 1936 rural Ireland, five sisters live together struggling to hold the family together in near poverty. Four of the sisters (Meryl Streep, Kathy Burke, Sophie Thompson, Brid Brennan) are spinsters and the fifth (Catherine McCormack) has born a son (Darrell Johnston) out of wedlock. Based on the Tony award winning play by Brian Friel and directed by Pat O'Connor (A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY). There have been several minor changes from the play but enough to take the edge off it. It's a decent enough memory piece, narrated by the adult illegitimate son. It's a slight bit of family melodrama of a brief summer where the family unit was happy before everything falls apart. On its own, the obvious dramatics (we keep waiting for the uptight Streep to join her sisters in a joyous dance to liberate her if only momentarily) aren't enough to hold everything together but fortunately for us, the excellent acting compensates for that. Streep restrains her sometime tendency to "ACT with a capital A" and her repressed Kate is one of her best performances and she's matched by the other actresses, notably Kathy Burke who comes as close to stealing the movie as anyone. With Michael Gambon and Rhys Ifans.