Turning Green

Sixteen-year-old, American-born James Powers hates his life in Ireland. Six years prior, after his mother died, his father shipped him and his little brother Pete (Killian Morgan) off to rural Ireland to live with his three aunts. Bored, depressed and xenophobic James drops out of school and spends his days yearning to get back to his idealized United States. For James, getting back to the U.S. is an improbable prospect. He tries to make money, little by little, to return to New York City – making small bar bets and working for the local bookie, Bill the Bookie, played by Alessandro Nivola. When Bill doesn't get the money owed to him, Bill the Breaker, played by Timothy Hutton, is sent instead to get the money with violence. Despite his failure Bill the Bookie prefers James, and takes a shine to the clever and resourceful young man.

James has just two friends. The first is his younger brother Pete, who has assimilated much better into Irish life than his older sibling. James' other friend is Tom (Colm Meaney), the gruff-yet-affectionate fisherman and frequently unsuccessful gambler. He sells his boat to pay his gambling debt, giving James the cash to pay off the debt. James has the ability to read between the lines of Tom's grouchy commentary, and sees the good in him. Tom in turn, is a rather faulty father figure to the directionless James.

James also pines for the cutest girl in town, Fiona, who may or may not know he even exists. Lacking confidence, he keeps his distance. Meanwhile, based on the excessive amount of time James spends locked in the bathroom, his naive aunts fear that he might be ill.

In a fortuitous moment, the aunts send James to London for a few days to see a medical specialist. There, he discovers his possible ticket out of Ireland – pornography. Illegal in Ireland, James strikes a deal with a local London newsagent to import them to his town and, using his connections made working for Bill, sells them to an eager Irish audience. To pay for them, he uses money that Tom gave him to repay his debt to Bill. This sets up conflict as Bill always demands payment on time.

Upon his return to Ireland a few days later, James meets up with the two Bills and they discuss business. In the racetrack toilet, Bill the Bookie asks James repeatedly if he had collected any money before he left. James, fully aware that he used Tom's money to buy the magazines, lies and says no. With that, Bill the Breaker suddenly attacks and beats the unsuspecting James. Bill the Bookie knew very well that Tom's money was supposed to come to him, but somehow hadn't. The beating serves as a warning to James to watch his step.

James immediately runs over to Tom's, who has also been beaten up by Bill. Tom banishes James from his house. Now, James is more alone than ever. James fantasizes that one of the girls in the magazine is talking to him, as she cajoles him to sell the magazines and then sell some more. Determined more than ever to pay back Bill, James finally receives his shipment of magazines and sells them all in one day. This leads him to expand his business – from approaching local merchants to selling them to other local towns. As his business booms. James feels he's actually helping Ireland, he's liberating them, inspiring them. "Like Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera. Or that guy from Thin Lizzy."

As he gets closer to a possible escape from Ireland, his perspective on the country changes. He even seems to be enjoying life for the first time in years. He finally strikes up the nerve to ask Fiona out on a date. He buys Tom a bigger boat. Even the aunts seem more tolerable. Meanwhile, Bill the Bookie has been wondering where this glut of illegal magazines has come from. Learning that the magazines are coming from London, Bill figures out that James is the one who is cutting into his underground business as he the only one smart enough to do it.

And just as James is about to reverse course on his skewed vision of Ireland, Bill steps in. The two Bills take James to the top of the cliff, which leads to an ironic and wistful conclusion.

Like many coming of age stories, Turning Green is about a young man learning about himself. In this case, it's more than a fish out of water story, but a fish out of two waters – Ireland and America. James is teetering on the cusp of adulthood and childhood, between his homeland and his adopted one, and deciding where his future lies. He refers to himself not as "Irish American" but "Irish American Irish." This constant flip-flopping has left him unsure of who he is and where he belongs. As his lot in life changes, James has to decide where home really is – a place or really just a state of mind.

It's also a story about a point of view. James has almost spitefully decided to hate Ireland and idealize America. As he's just 16, he's lived only 10 years in the U.S. and 6 in Ireland, hardly enough time for him to really relate to either. Additionally, in the 6 years there, he's inadvertently developed an Irish accent. It's clear to us that he's much more Irish than he'd like to admit.

He's also plagued by a none-too-healthy imagination, which only skews his perspective further. He has visions of nude women talking to him, urging him to sell the magazines in Ireland. His perspective on the aunts makes them almost cartoonish – they're really only as annoying as he makes them out to be. He's convinced himself that his brother wants to leave Ireland too, although that's obviously not true. And when the two Bills take James up to the cliffs to teach him a final lesson, it's not nearly as climactic as James has led himself to believe.

Turning Green received many positive reviews, as well as some mixed reviews. Kevin Thomas from the Los Angeles Times called it "an amusing Irish coming-of-age story...when all those triple-X magazines spread throughout the community, Turning Green takes off in earnest."[8] NPR's Mark Jenkins felt it was "enlivened by witty asides and playful commentary" and praised Aimette and Hofmann that "for a couple of Yanks making their first feature, they've drawn a perceptive sketch of the Old Sod."[9] Stephen Holden's review in The New York Times was largely positive as well, calling it "whimsical" but noting that the story's ending left the movie "stranded in the wilderness."[6] Stephen Whitty of The Star-Ledger said "as the debut film from a couple of new directors, it's an encouraging start"[10] and Variety's Robert Koehler dubbed it "a tart comedy...empowered and alive" before succumbing to "uneven drama."[7] In general, the reviews were positive, and the negatives are primarily based on the very ending of the movie, which Aimette and Hofmann both felt deviated from the tone and humor of the rest of the movie.[11][12]

The film was released on DVD in early 2010.

• Official website
• Turning Green at IMDb
• Turning Green at Rotten Tomatoes
• Trailer
• The Turning Green Halloween TV Commercial
• Podcast with Directors Michael Aimette & John G. Hofmann