CALVARY - Thursday 3rd July 2014

After all the rave Reviews I just had to go see 'CALVARY' last night, and did so at The Cremorne Orpheum Picture Palace . . . and was not disappointed, at all! This is a stirring, bleak, haunting film that will leave you thinking well after the credits have rolled. Once again after the 2011 'The Guard' made such an impact, the pairing of Director/Writer John Michael McDonagh and his actor compadre Brendan Gleeson, have delivered a film that hits many high notes.

Set in County Sligo on the unforgiving north-west coast of Ireland we have Father James Lavelle (Brendan Gleeson, never better!) who has come to the Priesthood later on in life following the death of his beloved wife, and a period it seems where he crawled inside a bottle of Irish Whiskey. Turning his back on his daughter Fiona (an excellent Kelly Reilly playing 'fractured' beautifully) he chose to pursue his 'calling' and ultimately ended up in Sligo. With a small local flock to attend to, one day while taking Confessional a member of his congregation enters the box and we learn that from aged seven was abused every other day for five years by the local Priest, who has since died! But this member of the congregation (who is unknown to us at this stage) wants to exact revenge on the Catholic Church for letting this be, and for letting countless other Priests do likewise throughout their history. Now, someone must answer for those heinous sins, and so the gauntlet is thrown down that this confession giver will kill Father James Lavelle seven days from now down at the beach. Father James therefore has seven days to get his house in order before an innocent Priest will be murdered, on a Sunday, and held to account for all the prior sins of the Catholic Church.

The film therefore is set over the following seven days, and during that time we learn more of Father James and the relationship he has with his daughter Fiona, who visits on Monday and stays until Friday. We learn more of the relationships with the other members of the congregation all of whom have lost faith in the Catholic Church and what is stands/stood for, all of whom are damaged goods in some way and carry emotional baggage from previous lives/experiences/relationships, and all of whom could potentially be our would-be killer.

Included in this strong supporting cast are Dylan Moran (as Michael Fitzgerald - the local lord of the manor, self made multi-millionaire but desperately unhappy); Chris O'Dowd (Jack Brennan - the local butcher, nursing a totally broken marital relationship); M. Emmet Walsh (the local ageing Writer and best selling American Author now resident in remote Sligo);  and Aidan Gillen (Dr. Franke Harte who you probably wouldn't want by your bedside in the event of an emergency!). As the story unfolds day by day, local character by local character, and there are more 'mishaps' as Sunday approaches we learn of the underlying hatred for the Catholic Church and even Father James as its representative, because of it.

Brendan Gleeson shines as Father James Lavelle and is in practically every scene on screen. He delivers his character with conviction and with a steadfast resolve despite his community seemingly rising up against him and his Church. Director John Michael McDonagh gives us a rich dialogue; the humour is black; the story is as confronting as it is moving; the location is bleak, harsh and desperate; and when the final showdown comes you might find it as unexpected as it is a relief!

This is truly an engrossing film, and a must-watch for 2014.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-