ON CIRCUIT: Closing the Ring, Drillbit Taylor, 88 Minutes, a thriller starring Al Pacino, and Kevin Spacey’s 21.
Closing the Ring
Not the documentary record of a prostate examination, but a brassy World War II yarn. Richard Attenborough directs and Martin McCann plays Jimmy Reilly, a young lad in Troubles-era Northern Ireland, who finds the wreckage of an American fighter plane and discovers a gold ring, the history of which is disclosed in a series of flashbacks. Galvanised by a need to return it to its owner, the lad makes his way to Minnesota and finds the pilot’s cantankerous widow (Shirley MacLaine). Preposterous and a bit low-budget, but the story is socked over with earnest energy. — Peter Bradshaw