Martin McDonagh - ANIMAL MY SOUL

Tag Archive: Martin McDonagh

THE GAELIC FOR COP

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March 29, 2012

THE GUARD directed by John Michael McDonagh (Ireland, 2011)

This black comedy came to my attention by virtue of the fact that the original soundtrack is by Calexico. In the event, this is not one of its major selling points. The music of Joey Burns and John Convertino is more suited to a spaghetti western than a police caper set in Ireland.

The story is essentially a vehicle for Brendan Gleeson as Gerry Boyle a nihilistic sergeant of the Garda (gaelic for ‘cop’) . He has the same droll, cynical manner as he had as the reluctant assassin he played for the film In Bruges, which was , not coincidentally, written and directed by the director’s brother, Martin McDonagh.

Boyle is no longer surprised by how stupid, cruel and corruptible human beings can be. He maintains his own unorthodox code of ethics which means that he sees nothing wrong with tampering with crime scenes, drinking on duty or hiring a couple of hookers on his day off. Continue reading →

Tags: Brendan Gleeson, Calexico, Don Cheadle, FBI, Garda, John Michael McDonagh, Mark Strong, Martin McDonagh, Tarantinoesque

IN BRUGE

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October 11, 2008

I’ve never been Bruges but, unlike the two Irish hit men in this movie, I do at least know that it’s in Belgium. It looks a bit like Prague with a picture postcard prettiness and historical treasures.

The two are holed up in the city after a hit job went wrong. They’re like The Odd Couple with guns and swearing or the philosophising assassins in Pulp Fiction transferred to a more scenic location.

Ken (Brendan Gleeson) takes this tourist trail with enthusiasm while Ray (Colin Farrell) maintains throughout that “Bruge is a shithole”. He dismisses sight seeing as just going around looking at things and history as just stuff that has already happened.

The movie is sharply scripted and ably directed by Martin McDonagh who has made his name in theatre before this, his first full length feature. The story is highly contrived and is weighed down a bit by the honour among hoodlums subtext but the lines are good enough to enable you to suspend disbelief without too much hardship.

Ralph Fiennes as the bad mouthing boss ,Harry, is terrific. I loved the scene where he’s angrily smashing up a phone. His wife comes in and says “It’s an inanimate object!” to which he replies “You’re a fucking inanimate object!”.

Brendan Gleeson is the best reason for watching this, though. His is the most rounded character and he plays it with economy and panache. It’s never explained how someone so cultured and humane wound up as a hit man a but then again it’s only a movie and it doesn’t always do to ask such questions.