Calvary

Calvary is an Irish black comedy film directed by John Michael McDonagh (The Guard), the second film in his planned Glorified Suicide Trilogy. Set in the north western countryside near Sligo, the film tells the tale of a priest who is threatened one day during confession. Thinking nothing of it he brushes the encounter off and attends to his regular duties, but the threat is all too real as he finds himself in a fight for his life. The film stars Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, and Dylan Moran. Gleeson starred in McDonagh’s The Guard, earning a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.

A lot of the tension in the film comes from the fact that, while the main character knows who it was that threatened him, the audience does not. As producer Chris Clark explains, “It’s not like he searches for the killer, because he knows who the killer is. He’s wrestling with his demons about whether he’s going to face the would-be killer. The strength of the piece is that although he knows, the audience does not know. There’s that sense of suspense – almost a western feel. A High Noon moment is coming.”

Calvary is rated 14A.

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