Photo: Winnie Maughan as Winnie in Perry Ogden's Pavee Lackeen
Paveen Lackeen means traveler girl in cant, a code language developed by a group of Irish people who maintain a culture separate from the rest of Ireland's populace. These Travellers were the subject of Perry Ogden's 1999 book Pony Kids and now one family, the Maughns, is at the center of his first film. Using non-professional actors, improvised dialogue and a largely structureless plot, Ogden vies for a sense of extreme docu-realism that's impressively sustained but oddly detached. This emotional aloofness is rather surprising given that one of Ogden's goals was to collapse the distance between the events being filmed and the story—a la Alan Clarke's Christine. Throughout the film, the audience gets a sense of social institutions allowing the Maughn family to slip through the cracks, but it's unclear if the story's lack of righteous indignation is deliberate on Ogden's part or a sign of his weakness. Context is slim here and may seem necessary, but many a fine director—including the ones whose works Paveen Lackeen aspires to—have created affecting dramas about impoverished people without such niceties. Ed Gonzalez
Paveen Lackeen means traveler girl in cant, a code language developed by a group of Irish people who maintain a culture separate from the rest of Ireland's populace. These Travellers were the subject of Perry Ogden's 1999 book Pony Kids and now one family, the Maughns, is at the center of his first film. Using non-professional actors, improvised dialogue and a largely structureless plot, Ogden vies for a sense of extreme docu-realism that's impressively sustained but oddly detached. This emotional aloofness is rather surprising given that one of Ogden's goals was to collapse the distance between the events being filmed and the story—a la Alan Clarke's Christine. Throughout the film, the audience gets a sense of social institutions allowing the Maughn family to slip through the cracks, but it's unclear if the story's lack of righteous indignation is deliberate on Ogden's part or a sign of his weakness. Context is slim here and may seem necessary, but many a fine director—including the ones whose works Paveen Lackeen aspires to—have created affecting dramas about impoverished people without such niceties. Ed Gonzalez
