(1991) Co-written with Dick Clement and Ian LeFrenais Dir Alan Parker

The Commitments, based on Roddy Doyle’s novel, follows the enjoyable travails of a band cobbled together by young Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins), whose vision is to bring soul music to Dublin. After putting an ad in the local paper, Jimmy assembles an unlikely group of musicians who, though nervous, raw, and rough, make music that speaks to something very near the hearts of their Dublin audience. As the band nears its big break, egos clash and expectations of fame and fortune start to tear them apart. The Commitments bubbles over with life, pumped along by killer 1960s soul tunes and crackling throughout with quick-witted dialogue, The Commitments is an effervescent, affecting tour through working-class Dublin.

Jimmy Rabbitte is unemployed and rapidly running out of money. His best friend Bimbo has been made redundant at the company where he has worked for many years. The two old friends are out of luck and out of options. That is, until Bimbo finds a dilapidated ‘chipper van’ and the pair decide to go into business. The Van is a tender tale of male friendship, swimming in grease and stained with ketchup.