Calvary.

“Killing a priest on a Sunday, that would be a good one know.” During a confessional, Sligo priest Father James is told that he will be killed on the next Sabbath, not because he is a bad priest, in fact quite the reverse, but because he is a well-respected man of God and well thought of by his congregation. He has been subjected to this death threat to atone for the sins of the Catholic Church and a paedophilic priest that was never brought to justice and has since passed away. The confessionee tells of systematic abuse where sexual acts were performed on him as a young lad over a period of many years leaving him in a disturbed state. We spend the following week in the company of Father James who knows who has threatened him, but we are left to guess which of his rather unsavoury parishioners will or will not carry out the death threat.

 

The beautiful Sligo countryside. 

We get to meet the human flotsam that are continually challenging James Lavelle’s commitment to his faith. There’s the rich local tycoon (Dylan Moran) whose wealth had not stopped his wife and children from leaving him, the cuckolded local butcher (Chris O’Dowd) whose promiscuous wife Veronica (Orla O’Rourke) seems to be up for sex with any one except her husband and her latest conquest Simon (Isaach de Blankole) an African motor mechanic and there’s a very cynical doctor (Aidan Gillen) who seems to be obsessed with suffering and we must not forget the sexually frustrated Milo (Killian Scott). As one of our audience remarked during the discussion that followed the screening, “more a whose-gonna-do-it than a whodunit.”[1] Like John Michael McDonagh’s first feature film The Guard (2011) Calvary (2014), which is the penultimate film of this seasons Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre Film Club programme, has little to do with social realism and is far darker than his debut movie and is not a comedy, black or otherwise!   

 

Some of the most tender scenes are between the priest and his daughter. 

Introduced by Julie McMorran who informed us that McDonagh, who was born in England of Irish decent, also wrote the screenplay for tonight’s film and was the brother of writer and director Martin McDonagh who was responsible for Six Shooter (2004), In Bruges (2008) and Seven Psychopaths (2012).  Both of the brothers have a slightly different approach to presenting a story, which normally allows a sense of compassion for the main protagonist and both tend to use Irish actors including Brendon Gleeson who played Donnelly in Six Shooter, Ken in In Bruges, Gerry Boyle in The Guard and Father James in John Michaels latest film.

 

Will the church come to Father James aid?

Unlike the young priest in his church Father James is not naive man but one who has lived and loved in the non-secular world. He has been an alcoholic, was widowed and has a daughter who comes to visit him from her home in London. In fact some of the most tender and emotional scenes in the film are between the priest and his daughter Fiona (Kelly Reilly) who has recently attempted suicide.  It was generally agreed by the RBCFT audience that this well written film got very much darker as the story went on and did not have the humour that the directors debut film contained. However it did set out some very interesting questions mainly involving people’s faith and their belief in a superior being. Described as a ‘terminal illness melodrama’[2] a powerful, and at times moving story, about a man who is deemed guilty by association and like Christ is punished for the sins of others.

Will it be the end for James Lavelle?

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[1] Alec Barclay

[2] Connor McMorran

Shadow Dancer.

This weeks Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre Film Club screening is a film that captures a twilight world of violence, fear and suspicion showing the sheer misery of its times. It also highlights how divided the authorities were at the time each with its own agenda MI5, Special Branch, the SAS and of course The Royal Ulster Constabulary.   The McVeigh Family.  Shadow Dancer (2012) starts in Belfast in 1973 when we share with the McVeigh family the accidental death of their young son in a crossfire incident. The action then moves to London twenty years later where the young boys grown up sister Colette McVeigh is on a IRA bombing mission that goes wrong. Unable to make her escape she is lifted by the British Secret Service in the guise of Mac (Clive Owen) who threatens her with jail in the UK, which means she we have very restricted access to her young son, if she does not become an IRA informant and spy on her own brothers (Aidan Gillen and Domhnall Gleeson). But as the story progresses we realise that things are not as they seem for either our MI5 agent or his latest Republican mole. Colette McVeigh. The screenplay for this slice of modern history was written by Tom Bradby[1], based on his 1998 novel of the same name. This psychological drama is set at the time of the Northern Irish peace process and its plot driven narrative benefits greatly from Bradby’s insider knowledge gained when at the age of 26 he spent a three-year period between 1993 and 1996 in Belfast working as ITN’s official Northern Ireland correspondent.  His brief was to follow the developing peace process which involved him meeting and talking to members of the IRA, intelligence agents, special branch officers and also at times to informers. Bradby recalls in a recent interview how he became fascinated by the relationship between an informer and his or her handler. Questioning how it could happen to people motivated enough to join the IRA in the first place and than go on to spy on them for the British Government. Obviously the relationship between the two opposites would be extremely intense and dangerous baring in mind that one tiny mistake and the informer would be tortured, dragged into a roadside ditch and shot! The informer meets her handler.  The film was directed by James March who is best known for Man on Wire (2009) his award-winning documentary that told the story of Philippe Petit’s 1974 high wire walk between the Twin Towers. This highly stylish political thriller had its UK Premier at the Edinburgh International Film Festival this year where it won the Michael Powell Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film that went jointly to Andrea Riseborough for her role as Colette and Brin Brennan as Ma.  Gillian Anderson plays Mac's boss. After watching tonight’s film the RBCFT audience felt that the award’s was deserved and agreed that this drama, which unfolded at just the right pace, was very gripping and well made, given more kudos by an exceptional cast which also includes David Wilmot and Gillian Anderson. It was also remarked that the musical score was not intrusive or overpowering and allowed, for once, silences to build the suspense that resonated right throughout the film.

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[1] Tom Bradby became Royal Correspondent for ITV News,

The Dark Knight Rises.

The Masked Crusader.

Its unusual for me not to be bowled over by movies based on comic books, or as there know known graphic novels, and I have especially enjoyed Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of the Batman story in the first two films of his trilogy. Batman Begins (2005) explored the origins of the crime fighter including the death of his parents, how he travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and how he unleashes his alto ego the masked crusader with the help of his trusty butler Alfred. In the second film, The Dark Knight (2008), Batman continues his fight against organised crime in Gotham City that falters when he has to pit his strength and intellect against the criminal mastermind known as The Joker.

Catwoman in all but name.

The final part of the trilogy The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is a spectacular looking movie with the production designers along with Nolan’s regular Director of Photography Wally Pfister on top of their form. But what undermines this film is its lack of humour and a sense of fun, which are essential to carry this style of movie. The only character that gets anywhere near this requirement is Anne Hathaway’s red lipped Selina Kyle, a version of Catwoman in every thing but name. Also we seem to have a somewhat baffling and unnecessarily complicated narrative with characters that are hard to empathise with, even Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman, proves quite difficult. 

Bane.

The main villain this time is a character called Bane (a barely recognisable Tom Hardy) who wears a sinister facial leather mask and is a giant of a man who leads a gang of mercenaries with the usual intention of ruling Gotham City. Two problems, the mask makes his speech a little unclear and I’m afraid we have been spoilt by Heath Ledgers ultimate villain The Joker, who too my mind is probable the best comic book screen antihero.  A small niggle I know but the wonderful Juno Temple (Killer Joe 2012) who plays Jen, a friend and accomplice of Selina Kyle, is woefully under used. With out meaning to give anything away, are we really introduced to Robin at the end of the movie? Therefore is this indeed the end of the franchise?

The woefully underused Juno Temple.