Calvary (2014)
Country: EIRE/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 100m
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankolé, M. Emmet Walsh, Marie-Josée Croze
Synopsis:
A Catholic priest in Sligo is warned by a former victim of abuse to expect retribution for the Church's sins and, as he receives a welcome visit from his suicidal daughter, over the course of a week his faith is further shaken by the cynicism and secularism evinced by the community in which he lives, and by the pusillanimity of his superiors.
Review:
Audacious companion piece to The Guard, with a similarly heterogeneous mix of characters gravitating around a public authority figure. Here the writer-director addresses a number of issues affecting contemporary Ireland: the compensation for child abuse at the hands of the clergy, the irresponsible behaviour that led up to the banking collapse in 2008, the questionable relevance of the priesthood in a society where few go to church. Arguably his reach exceeds his grasp, and the closing montage of personages seeing out their stories without their father figure might seem forced, but the writing is so surefooted, with that Irish mix of spirituality and profanity, that one can forgive a touch of ambition. The casting is distinctive, too, including a couple of noted comics, a French arthouse coloured actor and a relic of American independent cinema. Above all one remembers Gleeson's craggily inscrutable features, like the astonishing tabletop mountain over which we hover at times, as if observing godlike.
Country: EIRE/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 100m
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankolé, M. Emmet Walsh, Marie-Josée Croze
Synopsis:
A Catholic priest in Sligo is warned by a former victim of abuse to expect retribution for the Church's sins and, as he receives a welcome visit from his suicidal daughter, over the course of a week his faith is further shaken by the cynicism and secularism evinced by the community in which he lives, and by the pusillanimity of his superiors.
Review:
Audacious companion piece to The Guard, with a similarly heterogeneous mix of characters gravitating around a public authority figure. Here the writer-director addresses a number of issues affecting contemporary Ireland: the compensation for child abuse at the hands of the clergy, the irresponsible behaviour that led up to the banking collapse in 2008, the questionable relevance of the priesthood in a society where few go to church. Arguably his reach exceeds his grasp, and the closing montage of personages seeing out their stories without their father figure might seem forced, but the writing is so surefooted, with that Irish mix of spirituality and profanity, that one can forgive a touch of ambition. The casting is distinctive, too, including a couple of noted comics, a French arthouse coloured actor and a relic of American independent cinema. Above all one remembers Gleeson's craggily inscrutable features, like the astonishing tabletop mountain over which we hover at times, as if observing godlike.
Country: EIRE/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 100m
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankolé, M. Emmet Walsh, Marie-Josée Croze
Synopsis:
A Catholic priest in Sligo is warned by a former victim of abuse to expect retribution for the Church's sins and, as he receives a welcome visit from his suicidal daughter, over the course of a week his faith is further shaken by the cynicism and secularism evinced by the community in which he lives, and by the pusillanimity of his superiors.
Review:
Audacious companion piece to The Guard, with a similarly heterogeneous mix of characters gravitating around a public authority figure. Here the writer-director addresses a number of issues affecting contemporary Ireland: the compensation for child abuse at the hands of the clergy, the irresponsible behaviour that led up to the banking collapse in 2008, the questionable relevance of the priesthood in a society where few go to church. Arguably his reach exceeds his grasp, and the closing montage of personages seeing out their stories without their father figure might seem forced, but the writing is so surefooted, with that Irish mix of spirituality and profanity, that one can forgive a touch of ambition. The casting is distinctive, too, including a couple of noted comics, a French arthouse coloured actor and a relic of American independent cinema. Above all one remembers Gleeson's craggily inscrutable features, like the astonishing tabletop mountain over which we hover at times, as if observing godlike.