Herself ****Herself (15A) stars Clare Dunne as Sandra, a young Irish woman who breaks out of an abusive relationship with her husband Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson) to start a new life with her daughters Molly (Molly McCann) and Emma (Ruby Rose O’Hara). There are a number of charming performances here — Conleth Hill is particularly good as the reluctant contractor Aido — but Clare Dunne outshines them all, delivering a performance that brilliantly blends an irrepressible bloody-mindedness with a heart-breaking vulnerability. (cinema release)Respect *****Liesl Tommy expertly marshals a fine ensemble cast, but Jennifer Hudson is front-and-centre for the entire movie. Despite being born into a comfortable middle-class family, and surrounded from a tender age by some of America’s finest jazz artists, the young Aretha Franklin (Skye Dakota Turner) had a traumatic childhood. Standing between them, however, is the police officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder), whose tolerance for bullshit is precisely what you might expect from a young woman who packs an old-fashioned six-gun for her official police weapon.

Source: Irish Examiner September 10, 2021 12:00 UTC