Purely Joyful Movie!

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I found John Michael McDonagh's previous work The Guard (2011) lukewarm and trying to be funny more times than succeeding in my eye, even with some positive critics finding the humour to their liking. His recent War on Everyone (2016) has had rather poor critic and audience appreciation. I thus watched Calvary (2014) with some reservations, although I was hoping to find why there was more praise for Brendan Gleeson acting and McDonagh's writing and directing. It now seems that McDonagh may be much better with unconventional priests than with comic cops!From the unforgettable first line of the crisp script to the last shot of the film showing a single tear, the screenplay is pure genius. It is a dark comedy, a philosophical contemplation on life, pain, loss, forgiveness and frailty. The many characters and potent actors each add their own depth to the devoted priest centrepiece who is trying to help the community, but is also very aware of the reality and the limitations of his rhetoric. I have rarely seen a movie about a religious figure be so morally ambiguous, subdued yet ambitious. IT is not preachy or propose any universal truth, but rather explores humanity as is, raw, flawed and in search for: pleasure, closure, redemption, revenge, reparation, meaning, happiness, communication and communion. Communion as in deeply sharing and beyond the Christian shenanigans of the body of Christ. The priest who sees himself as inherently trying to do "good", and not only God's work, is an endearing character how is as flawed as all the others. He drinks, swears, gets violent on occasion, exhibits greed and has done some harm, somewhat inadvertently, to his suicidal daughter. Yet, he is real and relatable. He questions the moral compass he holds himself up to and tries to be the pillar of his town and community. He sometimes fails, but gets up and tries to do better.He says there is "too much focus on sins and less on virtues". He finds a way to teach his daughter true forgiveness and love. The film is ultimately beautifully filmed, acted, directed and edited and is based on a off-beat, cynical, but surprisingly smart and sensible screenplay that delivers laughs, emotions and life reflections. Bravo Mr. McDonagh. You hit the nail... to the cross.

Calvary follows a priest who, while in a confession box, has his life threatened, and how his week goes leading up to the day he's supposed to be murdered. The concept alone was enough to get be hooked, and I must say that I was looking forward to this movie. I wondered how it would handle itself, and was hugely let down. The second the opening scene is completed, it becomes 'a day in the life of a local priest'. Father James, the main priest, wanders about doing odd jobs for people, taking care of his routine, talking to people about things that don't really matter in ways that never gave the audience any reason to care about anything that was going on. Sure, it gets more intense towards the end, but that was over an hour of odd jobs and boring dialogue. The movie's pacing is very dull. It presents an engaging concept, gives the audience a good opening scene, then relies on that steam to carry it for over an hour. While I never necessarily felt compelled to just take a nap, I found myself consistently checking the remaining run time, realizing that I was only halfway and still had the same amount of time left. It was more tedious than it was boring. I just wanted to skip to the end, but persisted anyway. That's not to say that this movie did nothing right. The second half is vastly more interesting than the first half. The characters are, at this point, grounded, and some of them become interesting. Most of them are just mindless stereotypes who claim to be more than that, yet refuse to be any more. We have a black man who accuses people of being racist, then embodies his stereotype to a haunting level. There's the cheating wife who acts exactly how'd you'd expect her to. She cheats on her husband, and that's it. The most intriguing character of all was Fitzgerald, someone who actually had depth and purpose in the end. He was the only character who actually had something going on to make him worth seeing through to the end, save for Father James of course. Furthermore, all the performances are fairly competent. Brendan Gleeson and Dylan Moran, again the two most interesting characters, were pretty good, and Kelly Reilly was good as well. They did what they needed for their characters, and made it just that much more bearable to sit through. The whole revelation at the end when the audience learns who made the threat was, while unexpected, nonsensical in reality. There wasn't any real reason for this specific character to want to kill a priest, despite how much thinking I did about the matter. I just really didn't get it. None of the characters actually seem like they would want to kill a priest, or anyone for that matter, save for maybe one. But it's doubtful in my mind even he would want to kill a priest. Overall Calvary is a tedious drag, but it has some redeeming qualities including some payoff at the end and about two engaging characters. As much as I want to see it again with a new mindset, I also don't want to have to risk being bored out of my mind again. In the end I would recommend this movie so long as you go in with the right mindset.

As this film opens Father James is taking confession; an unseen voice tells him that he was abused as a child and he intends to kill Fr James the following Sunday. He does not blame Fr James for what happened to him; he just believes that it is appropriate that a good priest should die for the sins of a bad one. FR James discusses the matter with his bishop and says he knows who it was that made the threat but doesn't do anything to report him even after the bishop insists that such a threat isn't covered by the sanctity of the confessional. Over the following week he continues to minister to his parishioners although they aren't interested in what he has to say; taking Sunday communion seems to be all the religion they want. He also has his daughter, from before he took holy orders, come to visit him following a failed suicide attempt. During the week somebody burns his church to the ground; it would appear that the threat was serious.Given that this stars Brendan Gleeson in the leading role one might expect an enjoyable dark comedy like 'In Bruges' or 'The Guard' however this is much bleaker. There are some laughs to be had but for the most part there is just the feeling that protagonist Fr James is doomed and that most of the people he deals with in his rural Irish parish don't want him interfering with the way they live their lives but expect him to listen to their troubles without judging them. Brendan Gleeson is great in the lead role; he makes the characters just a little world-weary but still someone who wants to do what is right. The rest of the cast are pretty solid making us believe in their flawed characters… even if it is a little hard to believe that so many damaged people could reside in one small community in County Sligo. The setting, beautiful, rugged and somewhat bleak adds to the sense of foreboding. Overall I'd certainly recommend this although I'd caution that you have to be in the right mood; it certainly isn't a feel-good movie.

To make it short, this is a brilliant script with amazing performances, but if you want to truly get depressed and hate the ending, go for it. Gleeson is brilliant as always, but I left this movie feeling completely vacant of any positive outcomes and any sign of love of life. Yes, the problems of the church are of no secret when it comes to the acts of abuse upon young boys from some of the priests, but we have seen this time and time again over the years and this one just was too tough for me, as the only person that I was really rooting for does not get the satisfaction that he deserves. Make no mistake, this film is greatly written and wonderfully acted and directed. Gleeson is such a natural actor who fills every role with his amazing ability to play any character. Just be ready for a ride on the negativity train throughout.