After his critically acclaimed action-comedy the Guard, John Michael McDonagh's second feature is a masterfully sombre drama with glittering thorns of humour and an eccentric cast of unpredictable characters, all grounded by the soulful central performance of Brendan Gleeson.
Teaming up again with the Irish writer/director, Gleeson plays Father James Lavelle, a hard-working priest of small county Sligo, who's life is threatened by a member of his parish during a confession in a hilariously twisted opening.
"I first tasted semen when I was 7 years old." Says the unseen man.
"... It's certainly a startling opening line." Replies Father James .
In the confession booth this anonymous parishioner informs Father James he's going to kill him because he's innocent, "There's no point in killing a bad priest, but killing a good one, that'd be a shock." and fittingly he's going to do it next Sunday.
"I first tasted semen when I was 7 years old." Says the unseen man.
"... It's certainly a startling opening line." Replies Father James .
In the confession booth this anonymous parishioner informs Father James he's going to kill him because he's innocent, "There's no point in killing a bad priest, but killing a good one, that'd be a shock." and fittingly he's going to do it next Sunday.
This reverse whodunnit promises a murder from the beginning and then spends the film working through the line-up of suspects as Father James does his rounds through the coastal town, discussing the citizen's own ethical dilemmas while trying to glean clues as to who his prospective killer might be. As the clock counts down and he visits his parishioners the audience meet an angry community, a pack of frustrated, apathetic and listless wolves. There's the butcher (Chris O'Dowd) and his town-bike wife (Orla O'Rourke), her black lover (Isaach De Bankole), the menacing chief of police (Gary Lydon), the vehemently atheist doctor (Aiden Gillen) and the ludicrously rich businessman (Dylan Moran).
Although we get the sense that Father James always knows who his promised killer is, it matters not because the characters and dialogue effervesce with John Michael McDonagh's Anglo-Irish heritage, his playful love of language and his gallows humour. But even the sometimes absurdist comedy never becomes farcical, and there are moments of deep-seated melancholy, incisive moral contemplation and real courage - not least between Father James and his suicidal daughter (Kelly Reilly). The macabre themes and ominous end that slowly builds is complemented by Larry Smith's excellent cinematography, which perfectly exploits the harsh beauty of the local area, from the brutal flat top mountain to the desolate beach.
Its detective story plot and noirish undertones mean you could argue Calvary's a crime film, rather than a drama, a deliriously funny hybrid of Hitchcock and Agatha Christie. But neither genre does this finely-tuned picture justice. Against the backdrop of the Catholic Church's legacy of abuse, and with mentions of felching alongside the caveats of the Ten Commandments, Calvary emancipates itself from the shackles of labels and categories, and announces itself simply as a very mature, robust and brave film.
Calvary is a stunningly confident follow-up with a sense of humour darker than a pint of Guinness and a brilliantly deadpan and heart-felt performance from Brendan Gleeson that roots John Michael McDonagh's tragicomic tale in hope and humanism.
Its detective story plot and noirish undertones mean you could argue Calvary's a crime film, rather than a drama, a deliriously funny hybrid of Hitchcock and Agatha Christie. But neither genre does this finely-tuned picture justice. Against the backdrop of the Catholic Church's legacy of abuse, and with mentions of felching alongside the caveats of the Ten Commandments, Calvary emancipates itself from the shackles of labels and categories, and announces itself simply as a very mature, robust and brave film.
Calvary is a stunningly confident follow-up with a sense of humour darker than a pint of Guinness and a brilliantly deadpan and heart-felt performance from Brendan Gleeson that roots John Michael McDonagh's tragicomic tale in hope and humanism.
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