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Neil Jordan (Ireland, 1950) published the short stories of
"Night in Tunisia" (1976) and became a filmmaker only after he assisted
John Boorman.
Jordan debuted with
Angel (1982),
the horror The Company of Wolves (1984), which was a collaboration with gothic novelist Angela Carter,
the noir Mona Lisa (1986), in which
a chauffeur has a love-hate relationship with a prostitute,
the supernatural comedy
High Spirits (1988),
We're No Angels (1989), which is a remake of the Michael Curtiz film,
and
The Miracle (1991).
The Crying Game (1992) is a psychological thriller of unusual depth.
A black English soldier, Jude, is seduced by an attractive girl who turns out to be
a member of the IRA. Her friends kidnap the soldier and hold him hostage.
They are planning to trade him for a prisoner held by the British.
The soldier is taken to the gang's hide-out.
The terrorist charged with guarding him, Fergus, treats him cordially
(even pulls his dick out of his pants when he needs to pee and can't use
his own hands because they are tied up behind his back).
The soldier shows a picture of his girl to Fergus.
They chat and laugh together.
The other terrorists are annoyed by their friendship (the woman is no better
than the men).
When it comes to killing him, for them it is business as usual.
But Fergus is traumatized. He volunteers to carry out the execution.
As he walks the prisoner to the woods, the prisoner begs for his life.
Fergus can't shoot. The prisoner manages to unties himself and run for his life.
Fergus chases him in the woods, ready to shoot, but can't pull the trigger.
The soldier behaves like he is playing with him, laughter mixed with begging.
As Fergus aims seriously at him, the soldier steps on the asphalt of a road
and two British tanks run him over. The British storm the hide-out.
Fergus is the only one to escape, and decides to flee to England.
Once in London, he tracks down the soldier's ex-girlfriend, Dil, also black, who
runs a hairdresser shop.
He gets a hair cut and then follows her to a pub, where she
flirts with him in an aggressive, sarcastic manner.
Fergus introduces himself as Jimmy,
but then leaves the pub when an abusive man grabs the girl. Fergus/Jimmy
follows them to their apartment.
Jimmy finds a job as a construction worker. One night he goes back to the
pub and finds her singing on stage.
Admittedly, the soldier did not have much of a girlfriend, but Jimmy is
clearly fascinated. This time Jimmy defends her from the abusive man, probably
her pimp. She is happy to dump the pimp, Dave, for him.
Initially, Jimmy can't really make love to her, because of his memory of the soldier.
In fact, he starts asking her questions about the dead boyfriend.
One night, though, he is ready for sex. She strips naked and he sees that she
is ... a man. Or, better, a woman turned man. Jimmy runs away from her, but
eventually comes to accept her "oddity". He still refuses to have a relationship
with "her" but allows her to be friendly to him. Somehow, he still feels that
he has to protect "her".
One night a surprise awaits him at home: Jude. She tracked him down.
The IRA needs him for a new job. She may also be jealous of the "girl" she's
seen him with. She hints Dil may get hurt is he does not obey. Then points
a gun at him and kisses him.
One night Jude and her boss grab Jimmy out of the pub and take him to the site
where he is supposed to kill a "legitimate target". Dil follows him in a cab.
When Jude leaves, she shows up, crying, jealous. She loves him.
Jimmy/Fergus is determined to protect her. She keeps calling him "honey" and
kissing him any time she gets a chance. He cuts her hair, dresses her like
a boy, takes her to another place.
Dil runs back to her place. Jimmy/Fergus finds her/him drunk. She takes
a lot of tranquillizer pills.
He tells her the truth about the soldier, but she's falling asleep.
The following morning, while he is still sleeping, she takes his gun and
ties him up in bed.
Jude and her boss are waiting for him at the location where he is supposed
to carry out the murder. Since he does not show up, the boss
carries out the execution and gets killed.
Jude flees the scene of the crime and runs to Dil's apartment.
Dil is waiting for her and shoots her repeatedly.
Then tries to kill Jimmy/Fergus but can't pull the trigger.
Then tries to kill herself, but he stops her.
The police is downstairs. Jimmy/Fergus begs Dil to flee. S/he does.
Fergus stays and grabs the gun: it will have his fingerprints.
Dil goes to visit him to the penitentiary. S/he is still in love with him.
Then came the horror Interview with the Vampire (1994), which is an adaptation of Anne Rice’s material,
the biopic Michael Collins (1996),
The Butcher Boy (1997), which is an adaptation of Patrick McCabe’s 1992 novel,
the thriller In Dreams (1999), an adaptation of Bari Wood's novel "Doll's Eyes" (1993),
The End Of The Affair (1999), which is an adaptation of the Graham Greene novel,
Not I (2000), which is an adaptation of a Samuel Beckett stage play,
The Good Thief (2002), which is a remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's "Bob le Flambeur" (1955),
Breakfast on Pluto (2005), an adaptation of Patrick McCabe's 1998 novel,
The Brave One (2007),
Ondine (2009),
the feminist vampire movie Byzantium (2012),
the psychodrama Greta (2018),
Marlowe (2022), an adaptation of John Banville's novel
"The Black-Eyed Blonde" (2014).
He also published books of fiction that won literary awards:
"The Past" (1980),
"The Dream of a Beast" (1983),
"Sunrise with Sea Monster" (1994),
"Shade" (2004),
"Mistaken" (2011),
"The Drowned Detective" (2016),
"Carnivalesque" (2017).
He also created the
major TV series "The Borgias" (2011-2013) and "Riviera" (2017-2020).
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