Starring:
Brendan Gleeson, Kelly Reilly, Chris O’Dowd, Dylan Moran, Aiden Gillan
Written
by: John McDonagh
Directed
by: John McDonagh
“I’m going to kill
you, Father.” Not the words Father James (Gleeson) was expecting to hear in the
confessional booth. Torn between wanting to survive and to fulfil his priestly
duties, what follows is a week of startling and troubling insight into the
issues and flaws at the heart of his community, his faith, and his family.
Back in 2008, Martin McDonagh wrote and directed the
relatively infamous In Bruges, a
spectacularly foul-mouthed black comedy about two hitmen hiding out in Bruges
after a botched job. Something of an instant cult classic, it seemed that his
brother John had inherited some of the same style in 2011’s The Guard, another deeply black comedy
which riffed on both Wild West films and buddy cop films, splicing many of
those genre’s tropes together in rural Ireland. Given that Calvary is John’s second film, and the third of the brothers’ films
to star Brendan Gleeson, you could be forgiven for assuming that it would be
something similarly comic; blackly comic, perhaps, and comedy with teeth,
comedy with brains, but a comedy nonetheless.
You would, as it happens, be mostly wrong. This is not to
say that Calvary is not funny; it is
very funny indeed, painfully so at times. One scene around the halfway mark had
me almost paralytic with helpless hysterics, such was the perfection of writing
and delivery. But the comedy is incidental, added spice to the burning intelligence
and thoughtfulness at the heart of the drama. The film does play with your
expectations in this regard, with the vast majority of the cast best known as
comedians or comic actors, but laughter is not the main point of the film.
Neither is it a whodunit. Despite the impending death of
Father James, there are only token efforts to solve the mystery of his would-be
killer. He thinks he knows, and if you’re really good at identifying voices you
might be able to work it out yourself. But the identity of the killer is
irrelevant, really. The whole point is that the entire village is populated
with people bitter enough with life and the church that they might contemplate
such an act even before you consider the specific reasons he has for doing it
(which I won’t mention, for fear of diluting one of the more shocking moments
of the film – which is also its first line – but suffice it to say that it’s
not a massive surprise if you’re aware of the Catholic church’s media
reputation).
For all that though, Calvary
is not a particularly anti-Catholic film. Catholicism comes in for a fair
amount of flack, but then again so does pretty much every institution in
Ireland. The most unpleasant person in the film is a die-hard atheist. And
although Gleeson’s Father James is a flawed man, he is without question a good
man. He drinks too much, he’s almost incapable of not skewering someone with a
pointed remark, and he certainly has a temper. But he recognises his flaws,
accepts them, lives with them. He is openly contemptuous of some of his
parishioners, but if they turn up with a sincere request for help and guidance,
he will do everything in his power to provide it. This is actually what drives
the whole plot; is the right thing to do in such a situation actually to let your
would be killer go through with the act, and salve his all-encompassing rage?
It wouldn’t have worked if Gleeson’s performance had been sub-par, but he is
majestic in the role. His first scene, with the camera relentlessly focused on
his face as the off-screen confessor tells him what’s going to happen, and why,
is riveting, Gleeson perfectly selling the transition between shock and
anguish.
He has admirable support from the rest of the cast. Kelly
Reilly is wonderful as James’ estranged daughter (he wasn’t always a priest),
bruised and vulnerable and still brimming with hope. Elsewhere, Aiden Gillan is
impressive as a truly vicious doctor, revelling in his black-hearted lack of
faith, while Dylan Moran and Chris O’Dowd both portray outwardly happy yet inwardly
troubled souls with a skill that might surprise anyone more familiar with their
comic roles. On top of that, McDonagh’s script is spot on, beautifully written
and planned, and never feeling contrived despite the desire to fit to a theme.
Really, the whole film is spot on. It’s a rare occasion
indeed that I can’t think of a single negative aspect to something, but I’m
really struggling with Calvary. It’s
a perfect marriage of intelligence, passion, power and heart, with outstanding
performances, writing and direction to wrap it all up. It is without question
the best film I’ve seen so far this year, and I can’t imagine anything knocking
it off pole position. It’s over a week since I saw it, and I’m still absorbing
it all.