well the japanese have one of the highest iq's in the world.
1. hong kong with an average of 107
2. south korea with an average of 106
3. japan with an average of 105
then its taiwan, singapore.
the uk is joint 12th and the usa is 19th
ireland is 36th. living in northern ireland i count as part of the uk but i bet if they did a study just on us we'd be nearly as low as southern ireland.
uk cinema has always dissapointed me. its always seemed underconfident, like "omg we aren't americans we can't live up to their glorious hollywood blockbusters" the way the press talk about uk film, its as if it has some sort of a handicap because its not american.
as for northern ireland, well we have fuck all. sometimes hollywood shoots here for the scenery, but we have basically next to nothing of our own going on. i was surprised by that film hunger in 08 that came out of nowhere and is really a fucking classic. i obviously havent seen everything, but there has been so little i can safely assume its the greatest film ever to be made in this country. the tone of the thing sums up what life here was like during the troubles and in many ways still is.
the prison guard checking under his car for explosives, that's what some of my relatives had to do, and probably still would do in certain occasions. and the way the street and the houses look in that scene, thats pretty much the way most of the country still looks.
and there is a scene were 2 people just talk, a single shot for what must be over 20 minutes. it surprised the hell out of me watching it, because it really is unbelievably good. like it feels like an actual part of history instead of a movie if you know what i mean.
there is a northern ireland film site
here so i guess i will see if there are any torrents of any of them.
down south there's a dublin heroin film called
adam and paul which is pretty good.