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How entertaining? ★★★★★
Thought provoking? ★★★☆☆ 9 March 2014
This article is a review of CALVARY.
Seen at the Berlin International Film Festival 2014. (For more information, click here.)
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“Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned,” St Augustine quote
And so begins one of the bleakest cinematic comedies in years. One struggles to think of a similar work mixing hilarity and nihilism. Writer-director John Michael McDonagh has developed in leaps and bounds since drily funny cop flick THE GUARD. He brings its lead, Brendan Gleeson, along for a compellingly brutal journey, where words seemingly cut deeper than any corporeal weapon. To not be blown away by the material is a struggle.
“I first tasted semen when I was seven years old,” a parishioner in confessional to Father James Lavelle (Gleeson). If your ears could double take they would to such a start to a movie. Lavelle responds for us, “Startling opening line.” The audience laughs in shock and nervousness. Dark subject matter, outrageous humour and meta leanings (“How’s that for a third act revelation?” Lavelle), CALVARY sets out its stall early. Unseen by us, the member of the congregation goes onto recount his abuse as a child for half a decade at the hands of a priest. Retribution will come not in the murder of immoral clergymen, but the lesson to the wider world will be felt because a good man will die instead – so says the voice. Lavelle is told he has one week to put his house in order before he is killed. A masterclass in how to immediately grip your viewer.
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Stunning aerial shots of Sligo, Ireland, and valuable regular close-ups to read facial reactions, combine to elevate a dialogue-driven project beyond theatrical stylings. McDonagh has turned an eviscerating laser beam towards the Roman Catholic Church.
For those that don’t know, Calvary is the location where Jesus was crucified. A metaphorical noose hangs around the neck of Lavelle - a witty, educated, intelligent, moral man. One assumes the community’s religious leader will seek to pacify his would-be killer. Not his style, he continues to tend the flock – a town peopled by the unhinged. Malevolent forces stunningly array themselves against the priest.
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Arguably not since Ingmar Bergman’s THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957) is a film so obsessed by death:
- Driven to the cloth by the passing of his wife, Lavelle is in a rare situation: Having a legitimate daughter, Fiona (Kelly Reilly). Coincidentally visiting from London on the Monday after the threat, her wrists bear wounds of a suicide attempt (because of a boy).
- An aged American denizen, Gerald Ryan (M. Emmet Walsh), asks the Father to provide a gun so as to take his own life.
- A tourist’s husband (played by Marie-Josée Croze) accidentally dies.
- Jack Brennan (Chris O’Dowd) is the community butcher. Lavelle converses with him in a meat locker.
- Former pupil and serial killer (Domhnall Gleeson), serving life in prison, requests the priest hear his supposed confession.
- Milo Herlihy (Killian Scott) suffering existential ennui, mulls becoming a soldier in order to legally kill.
- Scene-stealing Aidan Gillen, taking his GAME OF THRONES provoking to new levels of disturbing, is a hardened gallows-humoured doctor.
An extraordinary array of characters, and we’ve not even talked about Dylan Moran’s disgraced banker and Isaach De Bankolé’s intimidating mechanic. Mix in domestic violence, dog murder and the burning down of the house of worship, and you have a rarely achieved level of oppressive atmosphere; made palatable by the brilliantly waggish and piercing dialogue.
Acting and writing gangbusters. Wow.
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