Canadian Film Review: The Grand Seduction (2014)

* * *
Director: Don McKellar
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Taylor Kitsch

Films like The Grand Seduction are projects that are engineered to please. They don't take chances, they offer no innovations, but they demonstrate the simple pleasures of the familiar. You know from the beginning just how the film will end, and you know more or less completely how it will get there, so its success or failure hinges on whether it can charm you into thinking that you want to listen to a story that you've already been told. In that respect, Don McKellar's The Grand Seduction is a success even if, in the grand scheme of things, it's a minor work as likely to be remembered after the fact with some affection as it is to fade from memory completely. I'm sure it seems like I'm damning the film with faint praise, but I actually did rather enjoy it. It's a sincere story, told in relaxed fashion, and it knows how to make the most of the innate likeability of its cast and its setting.

Review: Calvary (2014)

* * * 1/2
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Starring: Brendan Gleeson

In the opening scene of John Michael McDonagh's Calvary a man enters the confessional and informs the film's protagonist, Father James (Brendan Gleeson), that he's going to murder him the following Sunday. It isn't because James has done anything wrong; on the contrary it's precisely because he's a "good" priest that the man is going to take his life. Killing a bad priest would accomplish nothing, he reasons, but killing a good priest would send a message - besides, the specific priest who abused him is already dead. Calvary then follows James for the next seven days as he has encounters with various people in the village, some of whom may be the man who intends to kill him, all of whom have mortality on their mind, though none are marching towards their ends with as much certainty as James. While films about topics as heated as the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals are, perhaps, destined to be divisive, McDonagh's carefully crafted drama handles the subject with intelligence and sensitivity.

Review: The Guard (2011)

* * *
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle

The small town comedy, the fish out of water story, the anti-hero who subverts expectations, the buddy cop/opposites forced to work together action/comedy - each one is familiar to anyone with even passing interest in cinema, but when those elements are used well, that familiarity acts as a comforting narrative cushion, rather than a hinderance. The Guard makes use of a number of well-worn tropes but rather than resting on the laurels of past successes, it brings something of its own to the table. Headlined by a great performance by Brendan Gleeson, The Guard is a minor gem.

Review: In Bruges (2008)

* * * 1/2
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes

I've never really been a fan of Colin Farrell, but if he made more movies like In Bruges, I could easily become one. People have been recommending this movie to me for two years now and I'm so glad that I finally got around to seeing it. With a great script and great performances all around, In Bruges is the kind of film you can watch again and again.

The story focuses on Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), two hit men who've been sent to Bruges to lay low for an indefinite period of time. For Ray this is just about the worst thing that can happen (just about - the worst worst thing has already happened) and he develops an instant hatred for the city. He's unimpressed by the scenery, he's bored, and he's just generally anxious to get back to Dublin. Ken, on the other hand, makes the best of things and devotes himself to experiencing the city, seeing the sights and trying to get Ray to enjoy it as well. Centuries old buildings don't really do it for Ray, though, and the only thing that sparks his interest is a film being made in town. To quote him directly: "They're filming midgets!"

Soon enough Ray meets a girl who helps him occupy his time while Ken learns the real reason that they've been sent to Bruges by their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes). Harry orders Ken to kill Ray and though Ken has taken a liking to his young protege, he owes a great debt to Harry and is inclined to be loyal. When it comes down to doing the deed, however, he wavers and the film takes a few twists and turns before coming down to a shoot out between Harry and Ray.

Although the characters of In Bruges are really not nice people, it's one of the film's many strengths that you can still feel affection for them. Ray has done some very bad things but he's so tormented by them that he's drowning in his own guilt. Even if he "gets away with it," you know that he'll never really be away from it because for the rest of his life it'll be an albatross around his neck. In his performance Farrell expresses this inner turmoil by infusing Ray with a high energy that sees him constantly moving about, as if he might be able to outrun the past if only he can move fast enough. The times when the character is allowed to slow down, the real weight of his crime seems to press down on his shoulders and you believe that his remorse is genuine. Gleeson matches Farrell note for note and the two make for an excellent odd couple-like team.

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh (who earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay), In Bruges finds a good balance between drama and comedy. McDonagh has that Tarantino-esque ability to make two characters talking about random things just as compelling as sudden eruptions of violence, making the dialogue just as memorable as the action sequences. It excels as both a dark comedy and a thriller and despite Ray's consistent dislike of the city, it really makes me want to visit Bruges.