Well I have been a lucky girl over the last few days.
On Thursday night I went to a preview of Richard Ayoade’s second feature, The Double, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska. The film was followed by a satellite Q+A with the director himself.
If that wasn’t enough of a treat for one week, this morning I went to a Picturehouse members free screening of Calvary, John Michael McDonagh’s latest, with Brendan Gleeson returning to play the lead role.
Both films are really impressive, so much so that I have decided to take a break from my Oscar nominees marathon and do a quick write-up on each film. The conclusion will be the same for both. Go see these films.
First up- The Double
I’ve been a big fan of Richard Ayoade since I first started getting into The IT Crowd, so I was really glad I managed to free up some time to see this film and his Q+A on Thursday, and he did not disappoint.
The Double is a clever, dark adaptation of a Dostoyevsky novella, all about a socially awkward individual called Simon James (Eisenberg), who nobody notices and who is barely recognised by the object of his affections, Hannah (Wasikowska). Then along comes James Simon, his double in appearance but not in personality. James is confident, well-liked and flourishes in every social encounter where Simon does not. The film tracks how James comes to take over Simon’s life.
The Double is a really well-crafted film, which relies heavily on its style. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, in fact I think the style is the film. It has David Crank, who worked on Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood and is currently crafting Inherent Vice, as its production designer, and he does an incredible job. The dystopian universe presented is detailed with dingy, grim colours and effective lighting techniques, and it works well to reflect the tense nature of Simon’s relationship with the world around him. The use of sound is also very noticeable, and adds to the eerie atmosphere (this was noted in the Q+A, with the first ten or fifteen minutes purely being an interesting discussion on the use of sound in the film).
Eisenberg is fantastic, both at playing timid Simon and cocky James, and Wasikowska is a perfect addition to the cast as sultry yet troubled Hannah. There are also some cameos in the film that will fill any fans of Ayoade’s TV career with glee.
During the Q+A Ayoade joked that his job as a director is easy, saying anyone could do it as he just gives opinions on other people’s work and takes the credit. This is clearly a load of poop, as he has done a fantastic job with The Double, and he evidently had a masterplan and meticulously deisgned every aspect of the film. I really enjoyed it, and cannot wait for whatever he has planned next.
8.5/10
Calvary
At the beginning of Calvary we see Brendan Gleeson, playing Father James Lavelle, sat in a confession booth and listening to a man describe the horrors of his abuse at the hands of another priest. He then tells Father James that, as a current representative of the Church, he will kill him the following Sunday (“There’s no point in killing a bad priest,” he says, “I’m going to kill you because you’re innocent”). Father James knows who the man is, but we don’t, and what follows is a strange kind of Cluedo in which we are introduced to a bunch of atheists, arsonists and adulterers in this small Irish town, any of whom could be the potential murderer.
McDonagh’s follow up to The Guard, which also starred Gleeson, is a black comedy that is a powerful reflection of the struggles of Catholocism in an increasingly Atheist world. In my mind, however, it is more importantly a portrayal of a man who is trying to live by his morals and his faith in a place where they are constantly attacked questioned.
I imagine that getting the balance between witty comedy and quietly devastating drama is no mean feat, but I think McDonagh manages to achieve it well. I laughed many times, but I also cried, finding myself a lot more emotionally invested in the film than I expected. Gleeson is magnificent, and I could have looked at held frames of his downtrodden face for quite a while longer than the film allowed. Kelly Reilly is also really good as his troubled daughter, and there are interesting turns from Chris O’Dowd, Aidan Gillen and Domhnall Gleeson, Brendan’s own son, who is a very perverse casting choice in playing the horrific rapist and cannibal prisoner who Father James goes to visit.
Calvary was an unexpected gem, and I really liked it. It has a brilliant screenplay, and is beautifully well made with superb performances, not least of all from Gleeson. I guess all I can add is that I am very glad I decided to forfeit my Sunday morning lie-in to catch it.
9/10
The Silver Screen 