Calvary (2014) Directed & written by John Michael McDonagh. Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Kelly Reilly, & Chris O’Dowd. IMDB says: “After he is threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.”
I wasn’t quite prepared for how dark and bleak this film is. It’s filled with gallows humor, conversations of death and faith, and it tip-toes the lines between comedy, drama, and mystery. There are moments that are funny and you know you’re supposed to laugh, and every so often, a moment creeps in and you’re unsure if it’s supposed to be funny or taken seriously. Doesn’t hurt the film, but it does confuse you; especially because the backdrop is the beautiful countryside of Ireland.
Brendan Gleeson plays a priest in a rural town in Ireland. The film opens with him sitting in a confessional, and the man on the other side tells him to get his house in order, because he’s going to kill him in a week. Yeah. The gauntlet is placed and the mystery begins. But as much as you’re wondering “whodunit”, the film doesn’t play out like a mystery. You’re curious as to who is going to kill this priest, but what happens is just a series of vignettes and interactions between characters. No clues are given, the mystery isn’t furthered, it’s like the film throws this future murder idea at you and says, “Ah, we’ll talk about it later.” It takes place over the course of the week and it’s almost like a priest’s day in the life. He spends time working on sermons, visiting criminals in prisons, walking his dog, visiting the hospital, visiting townsfolk, etc. Sounds boring, but it’s not. It’s intriguing and borderline thought provoking.
The cast is superb. Plain and simple. Chris O’Dowd, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankole, Killian Scott, M. Emmet Walsh, and a chilling Domhall Gleeson are all just absolutely superb. (Wasn’t too much a fan of Kelly Reilly’s character) Their performances are intriguing and at times, almost mesmerizing. The score is there. I really liked the film and I definitely want to see it a few more times. I highly recommend seeing the film, but be warned, it’s real dark. If you’re having a bummer of a day, I would totally avoid this film until you’re feeling better. And this really isn’t a “date movie” either.
From the disturbing confessional that starts the film, Calvary is a very dark and bleak journey. You begin with a focus on Brendan Gleeson’s face that you’ll stick with throughout the run time. As he deals with the crazy mix of fear, anxiety, confusion, and grief over his death threat there is a deep sense of foreboding over every scene.
Despite all the bleakness, there is also a bit of a dark comedy mixed in the drama with plenty of gallows humor. I’d say 95% of the conversations in the film are about death, but director and writer John Michael McDonagh throws in enough well made funny scenes that you don’t drown in the darkness.
It helps that he has an awards worthy performance from Gleeson. Every emotion is so painfully present on his face as his complex character goes through the motions in a week that’s anything but ordinary. He meets with plenty of characters that inhabit this small coastal town in Ireland. There’s a bartender losing his business, a completely callous doctor, a man who may be abusing his wife, a lonely writer waiting to die, a young man dealing with dark thoughts, a wealthy man who has nothing besides his money. They’re all men who attend the priest’s services, but their faith is still lacking.
Everyone in the town seems to have a grudge against the church which is what makes this film very interesting. There is an urge to try to gather clues to figure out who’s the culprit, but at the same time everyone seems just as likely to bear the ill will and aggression to be guilty.
Calvary says a lot about religion very quietly through a compelling character piece. But it does not have a bit of agenda. It just lays out both sides of the story – a completely devout priest who is by all accounts a man with good intentions and the people who have come to question the good of the Catholic church.
This is certainly a film worth seeing, directed beautifully with a cast of all around winners (and unlike Nick I really liked Kelly Reilly’s performance). I wholeheartedly recommend checking this out even if you don’t catch it in theaters.
