''Michael Inside'' is a 2017 Irish

prison film A prison film is a film genre concerned with prison life and often prison escape. These films range from acclaimed dramas examining the nature of prisons, such as ''Cool Hand Luke'', '' Midnight Express'', ''Brubaker'', '' Escape from Alcatraz'', ...

, written, directed and co-produced by Frank Berry. It was nominated for four

Irish Film & Television Awards The IFTA Film & Drama Awards are awards given by the Irish Film & Television Academy for Irish television and film, the awards began in 1999. The ceremonies recognise Irish creative talent working in film, drama, and television, and winners receiv ...

and won the Best Film prize.

Plot

18-year-old Michael McCrea lives with his grandfather in a

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

housing estate. Michael's father is in prison and his mother died of an

overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

when he was young. Michael aims to put his life on the right path and find work, but he is caught in possession of a bag of drugs belonging to the older brother of a friend, and sentenced to three months imprisonment.

Production

During the film's production, research was undertaken using discussions with offenders who had passed through the

Irish Prison Service The Irish Prison Service (IPS) () manages the day-to-day operation of prisons in the Republic of Ireland. Political responsibility for the Ireland's prisons rests with the Minister of the Department of Justice. Budget, staff, and figures As of ...

's Pathways programme. Filming took place in

Cork Prison Cork Prison () is an Irish penal institution on Rathmore Road, Cork City, Ireland. It is a closed, medium security prison for males over 17 years of age, with capacity for 275 prisoners. It is immediately adjacent to Collins Barracks and near t ...

(the old building, closed in 2016) and

and received funding from the

Irish Film Board Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, formerly known as Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board, is the Republic of Ireland's state development agency for the Irish film, television and animation industry. It provides funds for the developm ...

Release

''Michael Inside'' premiered at the 2017

Galway Film Fleadh The Galway Film Fleadh (; Irish for "festival") is an international film festival founded in 1989 as part of the Galway Arts Festival. Describing itself as Ireland’s leading film festival, the event is held every July in Galway city in Ireland ...

, and also played at the 2017

Cork Film Festival The Cork International Film Festival, also known as the Cork Film Festival (), is a film festival held annually in Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the i ...

. It went on general release in Ireland on 6 April 2018.

Reception

''Michael Inside'' has received critical acclaim in Ireland. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 100%, based on 14 reviews, and an average rating of 9/10. It earned five-star reviews from Joe.ie and

entertainment.ie ''Entertainment.ie'' is an Irish web company based in Dublin. The company provides news and reviews of programs and films for TV and the cinema. It also provides information on upcoming comedy, comedies, festivals, theater shows and music in Ir ...

Accolades

References

External links

* *{{Rotten Tomatoes , michael_inside 2017 films 2010s prison films Irish drama films Films directed by Frank Berry Films set in Dublin (city) Films shot in the Republic of Ireland English-language Irish films 2010s English-language films