 A FilmExposed Film Review |
 Dir: LENNY ABRAHAMSON, 2007, Ireland, 85 mins
Cast: Pat Shortt, Conor Ryan, Anne-Marie Duff
Garage, the second film of director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O’Halloran, who successfully worked together on ADAM AND PAUL (2004), is centred on a village in the west midlands of Ireland and its local misfit Josie (Shortt), working in an outlying garage.
The story of an outsider, estranged from the community and entangled in his own worldviews and value system is a prevalent topic that in its manifoldness occurs in all sorts of contexts and forms of expression. In this case, the outsider and his behaviour are particularly linked to space and landscape and since endued with a relatively thin plot, this connection gives the film its basis.
Josie, who works in a bleak garage day after day, is, due to his limited mental abilities, pressed into the role of a village misfit by his fellow villagers. His days are characterised by a routine he surprisingly is not bored of and his social contacts are restricted to occasional evenings in the pub and some unrequited affection towards sales girl Carmel (Duff). His repetitive garage task suddenly changes when fifteen-year-old Danny (Ryan) starts his weekend job at the garage. After a while, the two taciturn characters get along trustingly and the uneven relationship flourishes until Josie acts in an inappropriate manner (in the eyes of the community) and is left with inexplicable feelings of shame and guilt.
While the story and its potential for conflict languish, it is the obvious correlation of a rejected, lonely soul and a wide, rural landscape, expressed in a simple and naturalistic photographic style, increased in its intensity by the absence of music, that make the film interesting in terms of psycho geography. Director of Photography Peter Robertson displays the landscape’s brusqueness and insistently shows the imbalance and egocentrism in a small community, which is unable to communicate with affection. The expressive, very physical acting of Shortt points out how Josie does not fit in anywhere, but in a landscape that underlines his estrangement from a civilisation, imprisoned in boredom and wrong-headed morals. Harassment from local deadbeats and simple sympathy instead of love characterize Josie’s life and with diffident Danny being the only contact, who takes Josie seriously, there is no getaway when the brittle relationship eventually collapses.
While this story of a lamblike outsider lacks depth regarding the interplay of characters, it is constantly demonstrating the pressure and mendacity of an isolated place without well-founded pleasure. Abrahamson restricts himself when the story dwells on the surface of relationships and rarely touches issues of a more open conflict between the characters – everyone seems to be blurred by the lacklustre atmosphere.
In parts, Garage pictures the hopelessness of Josie’s situation in a very concentrated way, but the extremely slow action makes the film long-winded. And although the characters are striking in their potential, the plot is too tedious to appreciate the actors’ abilities. |
