Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Dreadfully Boring

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

After a man's wife dies he takes a train back home. On that train he meets a young couple who are also grieving and a young man who doesn't seem to give a damn about other people's emotions. The story is relatively simple, four people on a train, each one has something in common. Someone in their lives has just died, each one deals with it differently. The young kid doesn't seem to give a damn, the couple cry and try to isolate themselves and the man seems to be relatively at ease, clearly hiding his true pain. Gleeson is the man in this role and he is the one who seems to be observing all the emotions on this train. Rúaidhrí Conroy is the motor mouth kid who has a really thick Irish accent, it's almost hard to tell what he is saying. The film belongs to these two characters and they are vastly different from one another. The scenery outside is beautiful and showcases Ireland's cottage, farmland area. It's definitely a place I want to visit one day in my life. The setting of the film is entirely on a train, save for the opening and closing scenes. Despite the film being almost all dialogue, the movement of the train actually kept some tension up. Who is this kid and why he is so psycho. For a short that is 30 minutes, it does its job. Well written, well directed and acted. The film looks nice and is quite the dark comedy. The monologue about the cow is both random and hilarious. The director, McDonagh, went on to direct In Bruges, an even darker comedy. You can see the similarities in the characters and the themes. Both films are shot in the same style, with a soft focus and of course star Brendan Gleeson.This short went on to win an Oscar, I haven't seen the other films nominated so I can't say that this film deserved the win, but it is well done. It does what most films can't do and that is tell a consistent story with interesting characters.

After losing his wife to illness Donnelly boards a train and encounters three other people coping with recent loss. Two are appropriately grieving parents and one is a petty thug filled with ugly cynicism. The callous boy creates problems that Donnely attempts to soothe over but the boy seems dead set on self destruction. After not one but two extraordinary experiences on the train Donnelly arrives home intent on committing suicide. He starts by shooting his wife's beloved pet rabbit first.There is a lot to to like about Six Shooter before it implodes into a farrago of unsound logic and gratuitous violence. Brendon Gleeson as the glum Donnelly displays a touching world weary sadness while Ruaidhri Conroy as the angry young man is filled with chilling intensity. The cinematography is also commendable whether it's the the moodily lit interiors that lend to the general atmosphere or striking landscapes of the Irish countryside captured along the train ride. What doesn't wash even before the bloodbath on the train and the animal dismemberment before and after is the patience everyone shows for the loony Billy the Kid wanna be. Normal tolerance is expended beyond credibility early and director Mc Donagh deadens the pace as the boy becomes more and more outrageous. By the last stop all the subtle promise of the film's opening moments have been drowned in a sea of red.

One of my house-mates watched this film on a Monday night, a night which I myself usually go to bed early as I have work in the morning. As he put it on, I was just readying myself to hit the sack. However, after watching, intrigued, for the first five minutes I sat down and made myself comfortable for what was one of the finest twenty five minutes of character acting committed to celluloid I have seen for a while.The lead role, played superbly by Gleeson, is a portrayal of a character very much in limbo, being at a point in his life where he is at a crossroads, never sure what to do next. This is until he meets a disregarding young man on a train, less than eloquent but with a mouth like a traction engine. During the journey he invariably upsets several passengers, however it is the tying in of events that truly sets this film apart. Although at times it may seem contrived in its directness in linking different parts of the story, we must remember that this is a short film and needs to be direct in certain aspects.Rúaidhrí Conroy, an actor of whom I've not seen anything of outside this role, shows promise akin of some of the finest young British actors of our generation. His role play as the misanthropic youth is superb, and it is fair to say he steals the show from the undoubtedly talented and far more celebrated Gleeson.If you get a chance to see this film, or even purchase it based on this review, it will not be in vain; a contemporary British masterpiece.

A bit of fun for the black-hearted, very black-hearted. Death becomes them, all of them it seems, in one way or another. I am a fan of dark humor myself--Sweeney Todd and League of Gentlemen come to mind--but despite having a reasonably strong stomach, this film made me uncomfortable. Make no mistake, it is wonderfully crafted, with outstanding performances, top-notch production values, and a glorious punch line, but it might be a trial to keep your eyes on the screen until the final payoff.I caught this dainty in a showing of all the Oscar-nominated shorts, animated and live action. (and not, sadly, documentary) It is a shame that so few get to see quality short films of this sort. It might be a worthy enterprise for some bright person to market a DVD product line with sets of each year's nominees. Or work something out with Apple to make them down-loadable to digital devices of various sorts. It is a sad thing that we must endure advertisements prior to seeing features. Substituting short films of modest duration would add reel value to seeing films in a theatrical venue. Lord knows, it would be a good thing to provide a bit more justification for the hefty ticket prices.