Movie Review: Garage

Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Pat Shortt, Conor J Ryan, Anne-Marie Duff
Release Date: 5 October 2007
Tardy Review Date: 28 January 2011
Format: DVD


A bittersweet Irish film about a small-town misfit


I think I must've heard good things about this film a while ago and just added it to my list on the off-chance, because when the DVD arrived, I couldn't really remember what it was meant to be about.  It's only a short film, running at only 1 hr 20 mins, which makes a nice change these days with so many films running around the two and a half hour mark.

It centres around a nice but naive man called Josie (Shortt), who works in a garage in a very small Irish town.  He is of low intelligence and taken advantage of and taunted by people around him, whilst they simultaneously offer him some level of protection and community.  It seems likely he has learning difficulties, although this isn't explicitly discussed, and so his treatment can seem uncomfortable at times.

The pacing of the film is extremely slow, with often very little happening or being said, which really portrays the feel of a backwater town in a realistic way.  The garage where Josie works has almost no customers and the boss's decision to open late on weekends to cater for passing traffic seems utterly pointless.  Josie's biggest decision at work is whether to display the oil bottles on the forecourt or not.

Despite this lack of custom, the boss arranges for a teenage lad called David (Ryan) to help him out at the weekends.  It seems at first as though this will be another socially awkward situation for Josie to contend with, but the two manage to strike up a friendship, albeit a low-key and relatively uncommunicative one.  David appears to be equally socially inept in his own way - he's a teenager after all - and the two make a good fit as friends.

With David's presence, Josie's life seems to be taking an upward turn for a while, but it's not meant to be and other events cause problems for him, including a brush-off from Carmen (Duff), on whom he has a crush.  Ultimately, things get worse for Josie rather than better, and what seems like a quaint story in its beginnings ends up getting more bittersweet as it progresses.  Ultimately it's a film about small town life and the pain of not fitting in and this awkwardness, combined with his lack of intelligence, cause Jodie to make choices that become his own undoing.

Stylistically, the film is almost more a TV movie than a cinema release, with the action tending to take place in a few small locations - most of it in and around the garage itself.  That, combined with it's slow pace and smallish cast don't make it an obvious choice for a rental, but Shortt's performance is very convincing as Josie and some of the cinematography around the local countryside is really beautiful.  It's quality is reflected in the fact that it won several awards on release, including ones at Cannes, London and Toronto.

I'm not sure who this film would appeal to - it's definitely not one for blockbuster fans, so not sure I could recommend you pay to watch it.  Having said that, I enjoyed it and it's definitely worth watching if its on TV.