From John Huston's "The Dead" to Thomas Vinterberg's "The Celebration," large family gatherings on special occasions have been potent subject matter in the hands of an accomplished moviemaker. While rookie writer-director Hope Perello is a little woozy in her direction, the low-budget U.S. indie "St. Patrick's Day" is a satisfying mix of comedy and drama with excellent performances by headliners Piper Laurie and Joanne Baron.
St. Patrick's Day the holiday, the tradition, is a time for singing and wailing, lovemaking and fighting, drinking and praying. These activities and more occur in Perello's mostly gentle, civilized film that has no shocking family secrets as in Huston and Vinterberg's more ambitious but gloomier films. But the payoffs in "St. Patrick's Day" are well worth spending 105 minutes with the Donnellys and McDonoughs, Irish-Americans who are not far removed from the immigrant experience. Life has been good to the dozen or so characters in the film, but in the tradition of such scenarios, many big and little crises and epiphanies occur.
Perello opts for matter-of-fact portraits of individuals, their talents and failings, with some wonderfully intimate moments and singing performances. Second cousins surrender to their lustful desires, a married couple of 15 years annouce their pending divorce, the matriarch of the family declares at the start of dinner that she has taken the "pledge" and forbids any drinking of alcohol, an unpopular but cheerfully honored restriction that is eventually resolved in favor of the imbibers.
Perello keeps the pace moving along nicely but allows the actors to have many unhurried moments where their characters come into focus. The most endearing and satisfying story line relates the long overdue coming together of widow Pat (Laurie) and gentlemanly Thomas (Redmond M. Gleeson), great friends who in an exquisitely filmed scene, the film's best, become great lovers. Both actors are thoroughly engaging in their roles thanks more to Perello's writing than often too-conservative directing. Baron is likewise terrific as Mary Pat's daughter, who is in the middle of breaking up with her husband (Jim Metzler). He delivers a heart-felt and eloquent farewell to the assembled family in another splendid scene.
Working out the story's constraints of time and locale, Perello gets the job done nicely. The all-around superb cast includes David Ault, Herta Ware and Colleen Fitzpatrick.

The article is accompanied by a small black and white photo of Piper Lauie holding Joanne Baron- Here's a toast to the talent of Piper Laurie, top, and Joanne Baron.