“Priest is in confession. Parishoner tells him that he will kill said priest in one week, not because of anything he’s done, but because he’s a good priest. And he was treated poorly and ignored by bad priests in his childhood. That’s where the film opens. Intriguing enough premise, and hearing it was a dark comedy with rave reviews put me over the edge for it.
I wasn’t as sold on it. First off, I figured out immediately who the murderous confessor was. It wasn’t plot clues or anythign clever, just casting choices. The humor I was looking for was there, but only in sparse bits, not as much as I’d been led to believe. Instead things dragged on. As we counted down what was expected to be the father’s final week, I groaned every time I was told it wasn’t as far ahead in the week as I’d expected.
Maybe the premise just couldn’t be sustained for that long. Maybe I didn’t care as much about the other character interactions. I don’t know. It just was kind of boring to me. Brendan Gleeson was a solid choice, and Kelly Reilly did light up the screen, but they weren’t enough. I guess I shouldn’t have put such high priority on this one.
Calvary – \m/ \m/”