Calvary Review

Calvary is written and directed by John Michael McDonagh and stars Brendan Gleeson and Chris O'Dowd.This film follows a priest played by Brendan Gleeson who lives in a small town in Ireland and is told he has 7 days to live during confession. Calvary is the darkest film I have seen since Prisoners. The film oozes eeriness from the moment the first scene ends and makes you feel very slimey inside and only good directors can make films like that. The direction of this film is great, you really do feel isolated in the small town and wonder what this poor priest can do to escape the situation he is faced with. Brendan Gleeson gives an amazing performance and is on screen for the whole film and the majority of the scenes in this film is just him talking with citizens of the town and he shows he can do more than just comedy. The scenes are so intriguing because you have no idea who threatened him at the beginning of the film and you want go hear every word that comes out these characters mouths to try and find some sort of clue.

McDonagh penned an exceptional script for a dark psychological drama that has so many different themes woven throughout the film, in particular pedophilia. This could go awfully wrong and offend audience members but because the characters are so genuine the film feels painfully realistic and the themes help the film become even more powerful. Everyone in this film gives genuine performances that help this film be more powerful and thought provoking which is down to the dialogue written by McDonagh. However I felt at times there were a little too many characters that it becomes abit overwhelming and hard to keep up with.

Calvary is also an exceptional character piece on Gleeson's priest and is developed more as the film goes along. What is great is that because he is a priest, his actions become more meaningful and sets this film apart from an average drama. Calvary also has a surprising suspensful vibe as the days pass in the film and as an audience member you really anticipate this finale and helps you stay interested throught the 100 minute run-time.

Overall Calvary is a film that will stick with me for quite some time and is definitely one of the years best. It is a film that is ambitious yet it manages to reach it's goal with ease and is capped off with one lf the years best performances by Brendan Glesson. I will give this film an 8.5, a very good film for a smaller film. With Starred Up and Under the Skin, it shows the brits are having a great year of cinema this year.

Review by Lucas Savvas