Main Cast: Elaine Cassidy, Cillian Murphy, Geraldine O'Rawe, Eleanor Methven, Brian F. O'Byrne
Release Year: 2001
Country: UK/IE
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
A friendship between two young people grows into a dangerous obsession in this drama based on the acclaimed stage play by Enda Walsh. Darren (Cillian Murphy) and Sinead (Elaine Cassidy) were born moments apart in the same hospital in a small Irish community. Nicknamed "Pig" and "Runt," Darren and Sinead grew up next door to each other and became inseparable friends while they were still toddlers; at the age of 16, their bond is even stronger than ever. However, Darren and Sinead also have a fondness for making trouble, and over the years Darren has developed a taste for violence; one of his favorite pranks is to have Sinead flirt with a man at the local disco, and then storm up, posing as her jealous boyfriend, and start a fight. Several people in town feel there's something not entirely healthy about Darren and Sinead's relationship, and Sinead's parents are persuaded to send her away to a school in the northern part of Ireland. Darren's attachment to Sinead grows only more intense in her absence, and in time he runs away to find Sinead and bring her back, only to discover she's made a new best friend, Mags (Tara Lynne O'Neill). Disco Pigs was the first feature from Kirsten Sheridan, whose father is veteran filmmaker Jim Sheridan. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Disco Pigs is a 2001 Irish film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and written by Enda Walsh, who adapted it from his 1996 play of the same name. Cillian Murphy and Elaine Cassidy star as Cork teenagers who have a lifelong, but unhealthy friendship that is imploding as they approach adulthood.
Plot
The film revolves around the intense relationship of the two teenage protagonists, Darren and Sinead, nicknamed "Pig" and "Runt". Pig and Runt were born at the same hospital at nearly the same time and grow up right next door to each other. This brings about a very close relationship between the two that borders on telepathic. The two talk in their own idiosyncratic "language". They live in their own world and barely communicate with the world around them. However, up until their seventeenth year, their relationship remains one of friendship, albeit a very intense unhealthy one.
Eventually however, Runt catches and reciprocates the attentions of another young man from her school just as Pig begins to notice Runt. As their seventeenth birthdays draws closer Pig's violent nature becomes more and more obvious and his romantic intentions towards Runt becomes confirmed when he kisses her after a rampage at a disco. Runt however does not want to give Pig what he wants of her. She does not know how to reject him; therefore, she continues her friendship with him feeling awkward and caged. Pig remains very protective of Runt and finally their closeness raises the concerns of the school they attend. They are separated and Runt is sent away to boarding school. Pig is crushed by this and decides to track down Runt and make her his again. This starts off an irreversible chain of events that will ultimately end in tragedy.
Darren/Pig is portrayed by Cillian Murphy, who also originated the part on the stage. Runt is the only person Pig knows well. He cannot begin to comprehend a world where Runt does not exist. Together they create a surreal world where there is little division between reality and dreams and Pig's and Runt's two personas. Pig is a strange, volatile dreamer.
Runt is portrayed by Elaine Cassidy. She is the calmer of the two characters. When events involving Pig get too wild, Runt steps in quietly. Although the less voiced of the two, she is the more independent. Eileen Walsh played this role in the on stage version.
Pig and Runt are the only actual characters in the play version. The other characters are merely described by them. The film has a number of other, mostly very minor, characters beyond Pig and Runt.
