This film was recommended by a random blog I ran across that stated that this was one of his or her favorite films of the past few years. I was lucky to stumble across it because there is very little chance that I would have seen it otherwise.
I am very glad that I watched it and the movie, if you can bear the rather slow start, is a tremendous representation of how friendship can simply go wrong, and also a lot about the human condition and how it is that we all deal with our relationships and how damaging it can be if things go awry.
Imagine walking up to a friend of yours that you have had a good, but rather routine relationship with for years and all of a sudden they simply tell you that they no longer want to hang out with you and are no longer interested not just in your good friendship, but in your presence at all. I think this would be a tough pill to swallow especially when nothing terribly traumatic or eventful has changed between how the two of you interact with one another.
This is exactly what happens in this completely fictional story between two mates who live on a sparsely populated island off the coast of Ireland and their names are Padraic (Colin Farell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson).
One day out of nowhere Colm just up and decides that he no longer wants to be friends with Padraic and Padraic, not having a great many other people to go with the pub with is very reluctant to accept this. Days go by and things become more and more tense between the two until Colm has had enough of his badgering and gives a rather gruesome ultimatum that if Padraic will not leave him alone, that Colm is going to remove one of his own fingers and throw it on Padraic's property until he either runs out of fingers, or that Padraic gets the message and leaves him alone.
It seems simple enough, and also the words of a madman that is definitely not going to carry through with his promise especially considering that Colm is a fan of playing violin and definitely needs his fingers in order to accomplish this.
Begging and whining ensues and the two of them keep their distance at first only to see things escalate to the point where Colm actually does follow through with his promise to cut off his own fingers. I'm sorry if this seems like a spoiler but the event is actually in the trailer so I don't feel like I am giving away too much of the story.
The fingers are actually not so much of the centrality of the story as the idea of friendship, and how it can suddenly simply fall apart is though: Sometimes, someone, somewhere, just doesn't want to be friends with you anymore and perhaps mental illness is at play or perhaps the friendship was never that good to begin with but one of the two people involved were simply playing their part in the relationship for lack of other options.
The reason why this film resonated with me is not because I have found myself in an identical situation, but there have been situations in my life where out of nowhere, someone that I have shared a lot of friendship with all of a sudden isn't interested in the friendship anymore, or vice versa. I think all of us have gone through this at some point in our lives or another. While it isn't explicitly stated in the film, there is some indication that Colm might have been "friends" with Padraic simply out of a lack of other or better options. The island they live on being such a small community and all, it isn't long before everyone knows about the entire thing and attempts to intervene.
While the film does actually move on rather slowly, the end message is one that really makes you think about life in general and the relationships that we have with those around us. I truly enjoy it when a film can make me think well beyond the drivel that plagues most films these days especially ones made by DC and Marvel where the ending leaves you with nothing other than I guess being impressed with the CGI. Unfortunately, films that have a deeper meaning beyond the apparent plot are becoming a bit of a rarity, and this film is a work of art that I believe people should go out of their way to see.
Should I watch it?
If you are like me and tire of the usual BS that Hollywood throws at us and actually would like to see something that is different and interesting and leaves you with a sense of loss and introspection afterwards, then YES, you should definitely watch this. If you like watching superheroes run around with green screen backgrounds to eventually reach an easily determined from the start conclusion then no, you will likely not enjoy this.
I enjoy both types of films but ones like this, especially with outstanding performances from both of the lead actors as well as everyone else involved, this one is a real winner, and a gem of a find that most people probably have never heard about, even though they really should. Like most movies that fall out of the stupid-entertainment values that have taken over the world, this movie barely made a profit, which only furthers the plague that is dumb action films that have all but taken over the entertainment industry.
Go see it.
