Movies – Gabriel Byrne’s 10 Best Movies, Ranked By IMDb
After a 10-year hiatus, HBO announced plans to revive the award-winning drama series In Treatment for Season 4 this past October. The new season of the show is poised to premiere sometime in 2021 with Mrs. America star Uzo Aduba set to star as the chief therapist, Dr. Brooke Lawrence. Adhering to the previous three seasons, Lawrence will treat three weekly patients while dealing with her own personal baggage.
Created in 2008 by Rodrigo Garcia, the first three seasons of In Treatment starred Gabriel Bryne and Diane Wiest in Emmy Award-winning roles. Although it doesn’t appear either will return for Season 4, Byrne’s cinematic career continues to flourish.
10 Into The West (1992) 7.0/10
Byrne headed Into the West under the swift direction of Mike Newell in the 1992 Irish family-adventure film. The PG-rated movie concerns Ossie (Ciaran Fitzgerald) and Tito (Ruaidhri Conroy), two boys on an epic quest to find their stolen horse.
Upon receiving a majestic white stallion from their Grandpa Ward (David Kelly), Ossie and Tito protect the animal as if their lives depended on it. But when the steed is stolen one day, the boys mount a daring mission to get their beloved nag back. Byrne plays the boys’ beloved father, Papa Reilly.
9 Canone Inverso – Making Love (2000) 7.1/10
Also known as The Inverse Canon, Ricky Tognazzi’s artsy European drama Canone Inverso – Making Love revolves around a special violin that changes hands in pre-WWII Prague. Byrne is credited as The Violinist in the film, one of two musicians who obtain the mystical instrument.
The violin in question comes with an etched scroll that comes to life and inspires those who possess it. As Jeno Varga plays the violin and becomes aroused by the music, he falls in love with Sophie (Melanie Thierry), a married concert pianist.
8 Little Women (1994) 7.3/10
In the 1994 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel Little Women, Byrne plays Friedrich Bhaer, the professor and devoted husband of Josephine March (Winona Ryder).
The autobiographical tale follows the daily lives of Jo March and her three sisters as they mature and come of age in post-Civil War Massachusetts. Directed by Gillian Armstrong, the film was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Actress in a Lead Role (Ryder), Best Costume Design for the great Colleen Atwood, and Best Original Score.
7 Hereditary (2018) 7.3/10
Ari Aster’s Hereditary is one of the scariest and most unnerving horror films to come out in the past few years. The one character you feel the most for is the unwitting patriarch, Steve (Byrne), who does not share the inherent evil his family members do.
Following the death of her mother, Annie (Toni Collette) struggles to keep her family unit together. With escalating stress, grief, loss, and mourning, Annie’s children become possessed by a familial curse that runs far deeper than anyone could imagine.
6 Enemy Of The State (1998) 7.3/10
More salient now than ever, Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State is a star-studded techno-thriller about the increasing invasion of privacy by the U.S. government. Cybersecurity, surveillance, and the exchange of freedom for safety are among the movie’s themes.
The movie concerns Robert Dean (Will Smith), a D.C. lawyer who obtains video evidence of a senatorial murder without his knowledge. Byrne plays a government shill who pretends to be Brill (Gene Hackman), the former NSA employee who helps Dean get out of the jam.
5 Excalibur (1981) 7.4/10
John Boorman’s sprawling action-adventure film Excalibur retells the legend of King Arthur (Nigel Terry) and the Knights of the Round Table. Byrne plays Uther Pendragon in the film, King Arthur’s Kingly father.
Upon his death, Pendragon buries the mystical sword Excalibur in stone until his bastard son Arthur draws the strength to pull it out. Once Arthur does so, Arthur becomes the King of England and tasked with quelling the ambition of his evil half-sister, Morgana (Helen Mirren).
4 Dead Man (1995) 7.6/10
Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man is a throwback, semi-silent black-and-white arthouse film starring Johnn Depp in the title role. Depp plays William Blake, an accountant who goes on a spiritual journey down the river while on the lam for murder.
Upon encountering a mystical Native-American shaman called Nobody (Gary Farmer), Blake embraces the natural world and spiritual realm as he floats downriver and falls into a trancelike state of consciousness. The more Blake surrenders to his surroundings, the more at peace he becomes in his own skin. Byrne plays Charlie Dickinson, son of gun-wielding businessman John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum).
3 Miller’s Crossing (1990) 7.7/10
The only Coen Brothers movie Byrne has starred in thus far is Miller’s Crossing, the superb 1990 Irish mob drama in which he plays the lead character of Tom Reagan.
Regan is an Irish mobster in the prohibition-era who works for the powerful boss, Leo (Albert Finney). When a rival gang starts causing trouble with their booze business, Reagan and Leo cannot agree on how to handle it. To make matters worse, Reagan is having a secret love affair with Leo’s lady, Verna (Marcia Gay Harden).
2 The Usual Suspects (1995) 8.5/10
For his iconic turn as the measured criminal mastermind Dean Keaton, The Usual Suspects has become Gabriel Byrne’s most popular movie of his career to date. With an 8.5/10 rating, the film currently ranks #33 on IMDb’s Top 250 Movies of All Time.
Directed by Bryan Singer, the film traces a quintet of career criminals who meet during a police lineup and concoct an ambitious plot to rob a shipment of $91 million in cocaine. However, the ruthless and enigmatic Keyser Soze has other plans. The film won two Oscars, including Best Original Screenplay for Christopher McQuarrie.
1 Death Of A Ladies Man (2020) 8.7/10
Although it’s yet to be released, the few IMDb users who saw and voted on Byrne’s newest film think the world of it. Set for a Canadian release on January 29, 2021, Death of a Ladies’ Man stars Byrne as Samuel O’Shea, a poetry professor at a serious existential crossroads.
When O’Shea begins having waking hallucinations, his life is thrown for a loopy ride as he begins to ponder the past, present, and future version of himself. With his mortality on the brain, O’Shea revisits his old Irish haunts to reconcile his past before he can move on.
