Garage - the film
September 25th, 2007 by EmmetGARAGE the new film by Leonard Abrahamson and Mark Halloran is coming to cinemas in Ireland on October the 5th.
Regarded by his neighbours as a harmless misfit, Josie (Pat Shortt) has spent all his adult life as the caretaker of a crumbling petrol station on the outskirts of a small town in the mid-west of Ireland. He is limited, lonely, yet relentlessly optimistic and, in his own peculiar way, happy. GARAGE follows Josie’s hapless search for intimacy over the course of a summer which sees his life changed forever.
While it isn’t playing for laughs to the same extent as the creators previous film Adam & Paul, it’s still pretty funny, albeit in a fairly understated way. The trailer below, sums it up pretty well, and while Garage is a bit harrowing at times, it’s all in all well worth checking out.
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September 26th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Looks good.. The trailer reminds me of the kind of home grown movies made in Ireland in the 80’s, in a good way ! “Eat the Peach” and the like.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
This clip gives a pretty good sense of it.
http://www.youtube.com/v/vjWEXoNwpow
September 27th, 2007 at 10:42 am
You’re right there Rich about it looking like Eat The Peach, it has a kind of Lamb feel to it as well-both very good Irish films. I thought Adam and Paul was one of the best films of its year-it was funny and also very sad at the same time. I’ll probably go and watch this one but I’m a bit worried it might be a bit too slow, know what I mean?
September 27th, 2007 at 11:58 am
It’s fairly slowly paced alright, but the editing on it remains fairly tight, so it winds up adding to the awkward midlands atmosphere.
I think in the same way that Adam & Paul gives you a vague insight into the lives of Dublin junkies, this helps you relate to the kind of blokes you’ll come across in an Urlingford bar. So it makes sense the pace is slower.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:32 am
the best irish film in the last 5 years - great writing , and beatiful shots of the irish landscape . Pat Shortt is a revelation in this role as a naive misfit in the midlands - great support actors including Tom Hickey , Anne Marie Duff & Don Wycherley.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Is it possible to see Garage in Cork? I can’t see it listed anywhere.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:21 am
It’s on in the Omniplex in Mahon Point.
Really surprised to see it’s not on in the gate.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Went to see it the other night, quite disappointed to be honest… I loved Adam and Paul and I was very curious to see how they would tackle the rural aspect of Irish society…
I thought Shortt was pretty good, and could have been brilliant, but the rest of the cast fell well short (no pun intended) for my taste.
I didn’t recognise many, if any actors in Adam and Paul and they were all fantastic, whereas for Garage there were several from the familiar RTE casting pool who just weren’t convincing at all.
I also felt that the ending, without giving anything away, was not convincing. The film failed, for me, to set up the environment in such a way that the decisions at the end of the film were understandable.
Well ok, theoretically I understood, but I didn’t feel it.
I do know several people who went and loved it… so maybe I just wanted too much from it.
October 9th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Martin - It opens in the Gate on Friday, tickets are bookable now.
Frank - you never like anything. : )
For what it’s worth I found the supporting cast pretty decent, particularly Andrew Bennett. The age profile of the characters in adam & paul worked well with unknowns, but are there a bunch of talented unknown 40 plus actors out there?
October 9th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
True enough. A girl in the cast of the play I’m rehearsing at the moment was downright offended practically that I didn’t like it… also the stage manager loved it.
Good question/point on the age, but they must be out there… maybe just take more looking for though…
October 9th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Hi Emmet, thanks for info. I think I’ll go along and watch it over the next week or so.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Anyone know if this will be released in the US and if so, when?
November 11th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
I don’t think there’s any plans for a general US release.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I saw this film last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. It captured the midlands very well; one only has to pass through places like Clara, Ferbane etc to understand the characters that populate this film. Pat Shortt was excellent; although I have often thought that he is very much underated and considered just the “funny man”- his talents and observational skills are well honed. I thought the editing was very good, very tight- this film could have lingered over the inevitable (I thought) ending. Funnily enough I overheard another moviegoer comment: “it shows Ireland in a terrible light”; I found this remark very strange, THIS Ireland is all around us, it may be dying out but it is there….