The Guard

John Michael McDonagh is a name I have never really heard of before, but it is no surprise to me given my very limited knowledge of Irish cinema both old and new. It came to no surprise, however, that I had seen John Michael McDonagh's more recent film Calvary, featuring the same actor Brendan Gleeson, of who I am very familiar with, and quite a fan of given his prior excellent performances. Though, it appears that with age this actor has only managed to improve and find the roles that best fit him.

The Guard is a film that came to my attention through Brendan Gleeson, in fact. Through my not-too-recent viewing of In Bruges in which he holds a leading role, where the dark humour and great dialogue of the film delivered through strong accents is what propels it forward. Though, I was not sure what to expect of The Guard going into it. It was something I had never actually heard of before, nor had I seen the film mentioned anywhere or seen any trailers before going into it. That is to say it was a full surprise.

I figured that the film would hold some similarities to In Bruges, given the dark comedy attribute it held. And a realisation that I really have little exposure to the world of Irish cinema. It is rare that I ever hear about an Irish film or even see them mentioned by critics, hopefully that begins to change from here on and I find many more, because The Guard was quick, concise, but still very well made and entertaining.

Much like most of the films and television shows that spring up around England and Ireland, there is a strong narrative focus on crime and solving murders. We hold some similarities to the world of South Korean cinema in that regard too, where we simply cannot stop producing stories around some of humanity's darkest actions that are mostly ignored or unheard of. The Guard's narrative focuses on the world of global criminal syndicates and murder within the small, mostly idle locations of Ireland where little is taking place in general; though this serves as a good location for such events since little attention in the area would assume that there are fewer eyes to discover the plots unfolding and money exchanging hands.

It is a nice idea to consider such locations for these happenings, since it's simply logical and serves as a nice alternative to the typical city industrial buildings and ports. Instead, the seaside locations of Ireland and the small cottages surrounded by farmland are logical enough to replace such stereotypical locations you often find in the genre. What adds to this is the main characters: regular guards that roam the land and keep things in check, stumbling into a world that is far greater than anything you would consider them to be prepared for. Though, as we see as the story progresses, they're some of the most well equipped individuals to take down these criminals, mostly because the criminals themselves are just stupid.

This is where the black comedy of The Guard comes into play: the characters are incredibly stupid, and our main characters of the police force are pretty much normal people. It's a film that doesn't require a ton of police work and investigations to get going, piecing together the puzzle to form a larger picture that reveals all. Instead, the narrative side of the film is rather quick. There isn't much to it and characters sort of just end up falling in each other's paths as the film progresses.

That is to also add that character development in The Guard is minimal. It doesn't care much for who these characters are, but instead sets itself up for the buddycop trope of America's 80s and 90s action films while displaying personalities that are the total opposite of such tropes. These characters thrive off of dialogue and humour that is incredibly dry, both in context and delivery. Where there is little emotion in what is said, but what is said is something that would cause some shock or surprise. I quite like this style of humour, since it results in a good script taking reign over a narrative and plenty of events.

Unlike In Bruges, however, The Guard's humour isn't so quick to be funny, but more quick to deliver lines that confuse and ultimately cause laughter. The lines portray these characters as people completely void of emotion as a result. It is their total disregard for anything, even themselves, which propels the film's dialogue forward and creates laughs. But I can easily see how this would miss its mark with many people that may find The Guard expecting something with more obvious humour.

For a film from Ireland, with the budget it had, The Guard is a pretty impressive film. It was shot on the 35mm film format which adds to that level of beauty it has in depicting what is otherwise a very dull, grey environment typically void of colour most of the time. I believe 35mm film format helped produce more colourful images in the few scenes that colour were more present and could be seen in a more vibrant manner.

Though, outside of colour that is to also acknowledge that the film is shot in a very photographic manner as well. I noticed in many scenes the camera would display close-up perspectives of the characters or choose very creative wide angle shots, as seen by the first image used in this post. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio is something I heavily enjoy, as it pertains to the use of anamorphic lenses. This in turn creates oval bokeh for areas of the frame that are not in focus which creates a very interesting background separation from the subjects in the foreground.

Anamorphic lenses and the complexity of dealing with them and the aspect ratio means that they aren't all that used in filmmaking; particularly as many average audience members don't even notice the use of such lenses. This alone makes a film gain my support a little more, but The Guard, while not going over the top with the cinematography and mostly utilising static perspectives, still manages to be rather beautiful with the anamorphic lenses and use of 35mm film format.

Ultimately, The Guard was a little surprise from Ireland that came and went. It was neither anything too memorable but still had some fun and creative elements to it that made it worth the watch. Particularly if you're a fan of the dark comedy genre.