STACK NZ Magazine November Issue 57

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28 NOVEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi
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Following their successful collaboration on the 2011
comedy The Guard, Brendan Gleeson and director
John Michael McDonagh reunite for this downbeat
drama about a Catholic priest who receives a
death threat from the confessional. Father James
(Gleeson) becomes the target of a vengeful victim
of childhood abuse at the hands of the clergy; an
innocent substitute for the offending priest, who
has since passed away. Given a week to prepare
himself, James endures a Catholic backlash from
the locals (an ensemble that includes Chris O’Dowd, Dylan Moran
and M. Emmet Walsh), any of whom could be his prospective
killer. Calvary is bleak and brilliant, peppered with some disarming
humour and anchored by an outstanding performance by Gleeson.
The sins of the father
CALVARY
Director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) isn’t afraid of
complex or sensitive material – his films frequently deal
with sociopolitical intrigue and murder, with cleverly emotive
character deconstructions within. Devil’s Knot is based on
the case of three teenaged boys who were jailed in the mid-
’90s for killing three young boys in the American South, after
a moral panic concerning Satanists emerged. Egoyan has
sifted through the dense source material (the trial, conviction
and subsequent release of the boys were covered heavily by
documentary makers) for this dramatic reimagining, which
allows him to flesh out figures within the case who weren’t necessarily central
to its mechanics – such as Pamela Hobbs (played with astounding candour
by Reese Witherspoon), the mother of one of the victims. A beautifully-shot,
intriguing look at grief, forgiveness and their murky overlap.
West of Memphis.
DEVIL’S KNOT
A young Ray Winstone made his name with his chilling
portrait of a vicious young offender in the seminal 1977
British prison flick Scum. This harrowing drama may
well end up doing something similar for Jack O’Connell
( Skins), who is mesmerising as a violent borstal
boy ‘starred up’ to adult prison for his out-of-control
behaviour. As well as having to cope with a bigger
and nastier breed of prisoner, his transfer to the high
security prison also reunites him with his estranged
father (Ben Mendelsohn, equally brilliant), a long-term
convict and the right-hand man of the deceptively mild-mannered prison
kingpin Peter Ferdinando. Prison dramas – British or otherwise – don’t
come much better than this, with director David Mackenzie shining an
unflinching light on the brutality of the modern prison system.
Proud scum
STARRED UP
Dead Poet’s Society gets a rom-com-ish makeover in
this slight but engaging comedy/drama set a minor
American private school. Clive Owen plays a once
promising poet who now coasts through life (more often
than not in an alcoholic blur) as a maverick literature
teacher, who is nevertheless loved by his students.
However, his creative juices are reawakened by new art
teacher Juliette Binoche – an acclaimed painter suffering
from rheumatoid arthritis – who is determined to prove
to him and his students that the visual image is more
powerful than the written word. But will Owen’s self-destructive lifestyle
derail both the school project and their own tentative relationship? Owen
and Binoche spark off each nicely as the feuding teachers, effortlessly
rising above the occasionally hackneyed dialogue and plot devices.
Is a picture worth a thousand words?
WORDS & PICTURES
Format: Release Date:05/11/14
Format: Release Date: 27/11/14
Format: Release Date:19/11/14
Format: Release Date: 19/11/14
DRAMA