Calvary (2014)

A film starring Brendan Gleeson (64 years) as a priest, Father James. Now, this should be for a limited audience. With the opening line: "I first tasted semen when I was seven", it certainly demands your attention.

The scenery is quite stunning. Long Irish shores under grey weather. Huge, green pastures. All perfect background for a large priest dressed in black.

Gleeson really is fantastic here. A perfect weary  and gruff old priest, with all the signs of a man who has seen too much of most. The kind that is no longer puzzled or befuddled over the actions of his fellow men, as he drifts further and further away from them. Perfectly coined by a parishioner early on as he corrects her analogy: "You're just a little too sharp for this perish." David Wilmot is nice as the buffoonish younger priest, adding further grievance to Father James' existence as he sits alone in his white room, without a single picture or trinket (only a cross), petting his old, dying golden retriever. A visit from his suicidal daughter (aptly played by Kelly Reilly) is for a while treated in the same way as his parish: With a defensive distance.

Father James almost exclusively observes as he watches his parishioners snort cocaine in public restrooms, throw their friends across the room at the pub, urinate on expensive paintings or making jokes as he watches his church burn to the ground.

The characters are sublime, and lay a foundation of very funny conversations about most subjects, as they all have their problems to share with Father James. And as the characters slowly start to wake Father James (a particularly hilarious scene featuring Dylan Moran)

Where the film suffers a bit is a defining story-line. There are characters, very nice scenes and some brilliant humour, but a clear story (apart from the beginning and end, which are outstanding) eludes me. Therefore not all scenes seem quite relevant.

Eventually they do find his limit, for better or worse. And for a while he joins their drunken rage. In the end, despite his valiant efforts, and his indomitable sense to do what is right, the only person that seems to take him seriously is from out of town. And as they all go about their business, only the grieving stranger that met him briefly under tragic circumstances, seems to have taken a single word to heart.

So it's definitely worth a watch, for the humour and characters, but mostly for the ingenious and startling beginning and end. Not to mention a stellar performance from Gleeson.

7/10