Expert: Barbara L. Baker - 12/7/2004

Question
I am trying to find a movie to buy for a friend. We began watching it one night while it was a special on one of those fancy TV channels that you have to pay a lot for. To make a long story short- we never saw the end, liked the movie, have tried to find it, and have never succeeded. It was foreign, filmed in Ireland, I believe. The plot revolved around two men, one Protestant, one Catholic, who were paired together to sell toupees (or "rugs" as they said) all around their home area. The comedy came out as they dealt with their differences, street protests, sales quotas, and a general distrust of each other simple because of religion. I have never been able to find out the title. Can you help me with this? It was a fairly recent release, I'd guess within the last 5 years or so. No one I recognized was in it, but the performances were good- no shoddy acting or camera work. I'm just stumped and I live in a small town with very little access to foreign films. Thank you for any help you can give me.
    Fran

Answer
Dear Fran:  You can ignore much of what I wrote below because with a bit more searching today, I think I have an answer for you (of course, if this isn't the film you are looking for, please get back with me):

I believe the film you are referring to is called "An Everlasting Piece."  It was directed by Barry Levinson ("Rain Man," etc.) in 2000, and distributed by Dreamworks (hence it was a U.S. made film, shot in Ireland with Irish actors).  The plot summary on Amazon.com sounds very much as you have described, about two Belfast men who get a chance to go into the toupee business together, and wind up with troubles due to the fact one is Catholic, one Protestant, etc.  I doubt that this film got a very wide release (I don't recall it, but, like you, few independent or foreign films make it out my way).

This film is out of stock in VHS (although used copies are available), but is available on DVD for about $10.00 through Amazon.com--it may be even cheaper on other websites, or your local video store possibly could order it.

I do hope this is the film you are looking for!  It sounds amusing, and I'll have to go see if I can find it for rent somewhere.

Once more, sorry to have taken awhile to get back with you.

Dear Fran:  I'm sorry to have taken awhile to get back to you.  Unfortunately, soon after I received this question, my computer partially crashed.  I have no access to the internet or my e-mail from that computer.  I have managed to use another computer in my office; however, because of the delay while I was trying to figure out what had gone wrong I have yet to discover an answer to your question.

Now that I am able to use this computer, I'll keep looking.  However, if you have any other info on this film, that would be helpful, as a basic plot discription can only take me so far.  

For example, are you sure this was a foreign film?  If so, do you recall the distributer? For example, Miramax is owned by Disney, and sometimes distributes films made by other countries, but also makes its own films in other countries (e.g. Chocolat).  They look foreign, but aren't.

Also, was the channel you saw it on a straight cable/satellite channel (have to pay for those, too) or a "premium" channel, such as HBO, STARZ, etc.?  Or was it "pay-per-view"?  And do you have any recollection of the specific channel itself?  For example, if it was the IFC (Independent Film Channel) or Sundance, then I know it may very well be a foreign film.  However, if it was HBO, that might mean it was an in-house product (HBO often produces its own films).  Both foreign made films and films made for TV are much harder to track down than a U.S. studio product.

If you can't recall anymore that's okay.  I'll just keep looking with the information I have.

Again, sorry for the (unavoidable) delay in answering.