Calvary (2014) Directed by John Michael McDonagh

Well, this clearly isn't a movie for everyone. I'm not even sure myself whether I fully liked it or not. It's definitely a movie with some good and interesting elements in it but on the other hand it also constantly feels that you have to piece everything together by yourself, while the movie itself isn't always giving you enough puzzle pieces.

This isn't necessarily a movie that follows a clear narrative and it's basically following its one main character, played by Brendan Gleeson, constantly around and tells the 'story' from his perspective. It's not an unusual or particularly 'annoying' approach but through this approach the movie does of course limits itself, while maybe some better and more fleshed out secondary characters could have helped to turn this movie into a more engaging and interesting one in my opinion.

It's not a particularly 'enjoyable' movie but at the same time it's not a too depressing one neither. And perhaps you can call that a disappointing aspect about the movie. It means that the movie isn't as emotionally hard hitting as it perhaps was intended to and the movie as a whole also not as engaging and interesting as it potentially really could have been.

I mean, the movie definitely touches upon some interesting themes but it's as if the movie is a bit afraid to push things too far. There are some controversial themes in this movie, mostly concerning religion but I yet just can't call this movie a controversial one with anything as well.

But sure, as an emotional journey type of movie, this one still has plenty to offer and is being a pretty solid one as well. Not that the main character is necessarily going through some interesting and huge transformations but it's interesting how he deals with certain issues and tries to confront them. It by no means is a predictable movie or one that's completely by the numbers, in any regard. It makes the movie both original and different to watch, which is something that not everybody is going to like but if you are into more minimalistic and subtle movies, than this one is definitely worth seeing for you.

Even though this really is a slow and more 'quiet' type of movie, I really wouldn't call it a boring one as well. Even when there isn't an awful lot going on in the story, it still remains a good movie to watch, mostly because of the acting, dialog and the overall style and approach of the movie. There is no doubt about it that director John Michael McDonagh is a great storyteller. I however do wish that the story (also written by John Michael McDonagh) would have had something more to offer as well at times.

I feel that the movie is trying to tell and do a whole lot more than I eventually was able to take out of it. But who knows, maybe you'll be able to take a whole lot more out of it as I was able to, so please don't let it hold you back. I just do wish that the movie would have been a bit more to the point and a bit less vague about certain issues at times. A movie that eventually leaves far more questions than answers rarely ever is a good thing in my opinion and experience and yes, I definitely needed some more answers from this movie at times, in order to be able to understand certain developments and character's motivations better, which all no doubt would have turned this movie into a far more engaging and powerful movie for me personally.

7/10

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