The Terrace (2012)

The Terrace tells the story of a diverse group of individuals living in the close-knit community of St Enda's Terrace in the heart of Dublin city, with one overriding thing in common - their friendship. However, the strength of their friendship is about to be put to the test. When the street syndicate wins the National Lottery, everyone is thrilled - until it becomes apparent that the winning ticket has vanished without a trace. Meanwhile, a New York production company has arranged to film the terrace and its inhabitants as part of a TV show on what the quintessential Dublin community is - just as friendships on the street start to break down and everyone begins to suspect each other of taking the missing ticket. Flamboyant, stylish Marco thinks his neighbour Majella is the culprit, despite the fact that she seems to have it all already. He also has his suspicions about single mother Rita, who hasn't a penny to her name. Maggie, seen as the mammy of the terrace, can't bear to think that anyone has taken it at all - but if someone hasn't, where has the ticket gone? As for Marco's big sister Lorraine, she's too concerned about what's going on behind closed doors within her marriage to worry too much about the ticket - until she realises that maybe the missing ticket issue is closer to home than she could ever have dreamed of ... As filming continues, the community's camaraderie begins to crumble right in front of the camera - much to the chagrin of Claude, the assistant producer of the TV show. Marco is thrilled to find that he and Claude are growing closer, and even manages to put his worries about the missing ticket out of his mind - but what Marco doesn't know is that his neighbours have seen something to suggest that Claude might be involved in the ticket's disappearance. As time goes on and the ticket doesn't show up, the gloves come off and the community truly gets to see what their friendships are made of. Will friendship prove to be more important than money? With likeable characters and clever twists, The Terrace is a warm tale that makes you ask yourself what you'd do in the residents' situation. (SBB)

Any Dream Will Do (2011)

Jenny Breslin's drunken tweet inviting her three best Twitter pals to stay for a weekend in Dublin will change her life. Having spoken to them for a year she feels she knows them really well and what they know of her is almost true, except for the odd exaggeration and the old photo... Jenny starts to worry that her life will appear dull to Zahra, the celebrity make-up artist from London; Fiona the stay-at-home mum; and her closest Twitter pal Kerry, the Irish nurse. But as she meets her virtual friends she realises that not everything you see on Twitter is true. Once you get used to Jenny (she is a little intense at first) then you'll begin to really warm to her. The setting of this virtual meets actual life works really well with nothing being as it seems. And if you're a Twitter addict then you'll love it - it will make you look at who you tweet with in a whole other light! (AB)

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