User reviews

Josie has been assigned the roles in life of pumping petrol and being the village idiot. He qualifies for the former role by being loyal to his boss, diligent about his work tasks, and friendly to the customers. He qualifies for the latter role because of some sort of mild mental disability that makes him slow to process ideas and not too good at standing up for himself. In fact he's not that stupid - one gets the impression that he was a slow child whom people got into the habit of talking down to, but that he understands more than other people acknowledge or that he even acknowledges himself.

People like Josie are litmus tests for distinguishing bullies from people who are fundamentally decent. The bullies, both teenagers and adults, treat him as if he doesn't even understand the cruel remarks they direct towards him. The people of conscience don't mock him because they know he can't respond in kind, and they recognise that he is capable of being hurt. However their kindness can only go so far: they can't engage with Josie as equals, they can't talk to him about relationships or children or careers, and the weather and the news of the town provide only a minute or two of conversational material.

Even more uncomfortable to watch than his treatment by the bullies is the use people make of him as a confidant of last resort. They unburden their hearts to him in the assumption that he has nothing better to do than listen to them, and expecting from him the kind of unconditional sympathy one would get from a pet dog. There is no reciprocation, nobody asks him how he is getting on, so Josie's unhappiness remains unarticulated beneath the conventional cheeriness that he presents to the world and the world expects of him.

The action of this slow moving film can be said to be driven by the intrusions of the wider world into a rural community. Josie's livelihood is threatened by economic development, and his role as the village idiot is threatened, if that's an appropriate word, by the dilution of the community with "blow ins". Being a village idiot is a cruel and marginal existence for Josie, but it does mean that when he takes a wrong turn, people have a ready explanation for his actions, and can be quite tactful and kind in nudging him back in the right direction. When the village fills up with more and more people who haven't known Josie since birth, his behaviour is in danger of being interpreted in a different way.

Believe me this is the most slow paced, void of dialog, boring independent-ish film I've ever seen. It makes Sling Blade look like an action flick. I was watching it to fight off insomnia one late night. Unfortunately it didn't work because after sticking with it to the end I was blown away by how the depiction of desolate rural Ireland life actually drove the story and gave deep meaning to the unbelievable end.

So don't get discouraged and grab that remote because you're so bored with this movie you just can't watch another minute because the deadpan, eventless story line really does say something about our society and modern life in a way that creeps up on you and slaps you in the face and makes you think.

Garage is a strange film, good but strange, its one of those films that can hold your attention despite nothing much really happening. It focuses on Josie, played by Pat Shortt, a garage attendant who isn't the shiniest tool in the box, he's harmless enough but his naivety means he is the butt of jokes and lives a very lonely existence. The town is small and everyone knows everyone and with no real friends Josie grasps at any interaction from talking to the local horse, his fleeting chats to long distance lorry driver Dan and to the blokes in the pub despite the fact they are obviously horrible to him. But it's when he gets David as his new young assistant at the garage that things start to change. Saddled with his own problems, adolescence, alienation, isolation and growing pains, David and Josie strike up a friendship, David thinks Josie is brilliant as he supplies him with beers after work and for Josie it's just someone to talk with but the seemingly harmless relationship starts to take a darker turn. With a script that is at times equal in its ability to make you laugh and feel uncomfortable the film is one which will not sit easy with some audiences, ultimately its bleakness may be a little too much for some. That said all the performances are great and while showing how the simple life can be complicated it also shows how beautiful the country Ireland is, but it's really all about the crippling loneliness that can affect us as humans and Shortt's mannerisms and portrayal are startling and in this respect it really is his film. Add to this the subtlety and calmingly paced direction and you have a gem of a movie that leaves a bitter but brilliant taste.

Garage arrives at a great time for Irish cinema. The output and standard of Irish film is at an all time low with an exception like Adam and Paul, a film from the same people that made Garage. Writer Mark O Halloran is a sure hand at capturing the subtle nuances of everyday Irish life. In his previous outing Adam and Paul he delved in to the world of two strung out Dublin heroin addicts. In Garage we join Josie in his hum drum existence as a petrol station attendant in a nameless provincial Irish village. Josie is not the sharpest tool in the box but his cheery demeanor aids the viewer in being won over by him.

Pat Short in his first dramatic role subverts his usual comic representation of the country redneck by infusing his portrayal of Josie with great pathos and genuine humor. Short has altered his stride in more ways than one here, totally changing his gait and physicality to become the character of Josie. It is an excellent performance from Short and as an Irish man who has been exposed to his previous life as simply a comic performer, a revelation.

Leonard Abrahamson who also directed Adam and Paul has made a film that is visually beautiful. The local shop, the quiet village street and the starkly beautiful Irish countryside punctuate the film creating a strong sense of place for the audience. These also serve to bring us in to the numbing routine of Josie's daily existence. He lives in terrible conditions but he blames no one and trudges on until closing time each day. Abrahamson revels in the everyday and the ordinary in Garage. Two men smoking outside a pub, a shop worker chatting to Josie outside her shop; these everyday scenes are woven in to the tapestry of Garage and in turn made in to something extraordinary.

Garage is a wonderful movie. Abrahamson as director and O Halloran as writer have made the best two Irish films of the last ten years in 'Adam and Paul' and 'Garage'. Finally I would just like to mention the great Tom Murphy who co starred in Adam and Paul as he just recently passed away. He will be sorely missed.

This is a good small-ish budget movie from Ireland that I saw screened at a film festival, okay really it was a little screening of a few movies from Europe at a small pub at university. There is some good dark comedy here as well as some very interesting and well done cinematography.

The story focuses on a guy who works at a gas station who ends up falling into a dire situation and needs to get out. He is a very lonely man with seemingly no friends and no real family.

The only other people around him don't seem to like or respect him and are even just mean to him.

I would recommend Garage even though at times it seems to drag and the plot is a little bit thin. Very interesting with some good shots and a decent performance by the lead, Shortt.

This movie is visually stunning in design, almost like a moving painting. Pat Shortt who plays Josie, is just absolutely brilliant! His sense of purity and sincerity is consistently communicated. I have not been able to stop talking about the film since I watched it, and NEED to watch it again.

A quick comment on it's pacing. For me, a movie doesn't have to continually stimulate me to keep my attention. If the characters are riveting and the story movies at it's OWN pace, and not with my expectations, that's the whole goal. We are so commercialized with our expectations when it comes to movies, we've forgotten to just go along with it. Garage is a movie you just go along with. The Josie character is so sweet and pure, it's difficult not to have him affect you.

There are several topics I could bring up with regards to this movie, but one that stands out. How difficult it really must be for someone challenged. This movie is a microscopic look into this world. We talk about how alone we are in the world. But imagine having a disability in the process. This movie paints one perspective of what I would imagine it's like.

The overwhelming thing I noticed, was no one was helpful to Josie. As a human being, this disturbed me greatly! This movie shows perfectly, how amazing the world would be, if we just made a little effort, to help one another. Such little effort, to make such a big impact.

For someone to not understand and feel what Josie is going through, only supports the apathy that has seeded itself in our current lifestyles, and society as a whole to date.

RL

An Irish film about the life of gas-station caretaker, Josie, a simple-minded good-hearted man, craving for social and love interaction, but somewhat autistic or slightly mentally challenged, and of his life in an isolated town in rural Ireland.

The story has many good points and thought-provoking elements of exploration: The nature of friendship -and its limits-, the contradictions of modern Law and old ways of socializing, pace and change in rural areas, the thin limits existing between success and fracas in such an environment, and the depiction of rural life.

I think that the movie success at doing well the latter, and the viewer witnesses the lives of the town's apparently happy but deeply dissatisfied dwellers, their miseries and broken dreams, their monotonous social interaction, their role and social hierarchy, and their latent immobility and frustration. In fact, this is a movie about sad frustrated people unwilling to change living in an isolate place that feeds those frustrations.

The premise is interesting, no matter how boring life can be in any town, not even in one like this. The problem is the overall dullness of the movie, which is too slow in pace but too schematic in the depiction of the actions and character of the main characters. In fact, if the characters had been drawn with a little bit more of psychological depth and in a less descriptive way, the movie would have had benefited enormously from it. Pat Shortt, the leading actor, is inexpressive in his performance, and I don't think it is his fault, but the director and the script's.

The conversations of Josie with the horse, his interaction with some of the teens in town, his sexual frustration and the depiction of his poor personal house and life are the things I liked the most, and also how some fellow-town man and woman change their attitude to Josie when he tries to change. I also liked the end, which is both factual and metaphorical, and very moving, as it shows the repercussions that a little drama can have in the life of a dweller of a narrow-minded town.

To me, the dull performances by most actors, the tempo of the movie, and, above all, the poor direction killed a story that had many possibilities.

I'm English but I lived in Ireland for 6 years until recently. Do not be fooled, Ireland today is not the vibrancy of Dublin or the bite of the Celtic tiger - like any country it is a mixture that has it's fair share of sad, empty and lonely places. This film attempts to portray this - and succeeds quite beautifully. The filmmakers are also "responsible" for the brilliant Adam and Paul -a snapshot of the struggle to live in modern day Dublin with a shocking drug habit... and Garage is no different - a few days in a life that tell us so much but share so little. The dialogue is sparse at best, just a nod and a smile to indicate friendship. The tiny visual clues show us one man's life in pictures - his lonely dinner (he bought one pork chop from the butcher) his wash in a sink. This film is one of those that is nothing and everything. I can't recommend it highly enough. Watch it and feel grateful that your life is full and vibrant. That it doesn't end with your putting your socks in your shoes...

From the team that brought us the wonderful "Adam and Paul" comes the slower and less comedic story of Josey, (Pat Shortt) a simple minded Garage worker in a changing rural town. The plot is not a 'high concept' one, and unfolds slowly with lot's of attention to character. However, it is never boring and has such a spellbinding atmosphere that one feels in the hand's of artists. The script is a sparse and economic masterclass in storytelling and the direction is of unforced confidence. The acting is flawless and the visuals again unfussy but beautiful. This all ties up to a very interesting end which will have you thinking for a long time to come.

Melancholy.

In the film Garage, directed by Leonard Abrahamson, we see a good example of the melancholy of a man who is alone, appreciated by many people, but this people do not go a step further in their relationship with him.

We can see in Josie's life (Pat Shortt) the happiness of the person that is not literate and does not know anything about real life, and thinks that everything is OK and that everybody takes care of him, as a childish thought about the society, but some events are going to change his mind.

This sense of melancholy is given also, apart from the performance of Shortt, by the type of shots appearing in the film, mainly by extremely long shots, covering as much images as possible, even if there are people inside the frame. This type of shots give us the feeling of loneliness that Josie feels, although he does not realize of it, and transfer us the loneliness of the Irish countryside, sad, rainy and plain.

We can see that the camera is just a witness of what is happening, it is not a watcher of the action, as an example there are not counter shots or over-the-shoulder shots, everything is just like a photography, where the director wants to have as much visual information as possible. The lack of conversation is solved by this use of the camera, and the absence of a real action is not the important characteristic of this film, but something that aims us to think about the film, not just to see it.

Darío Metola Rodríguez.

WILD HORSE

Garage tells us the story about Josie, an odd employee in a gas station. The plot of the film takes place in a small village from Ireland where the life goes by calm. Leonard Abrahamson shows us the stereotypes that we can find in any rural village in the middle of nowhere. Everybody knows everybody. A pub, grocery store, gas station and railways tracks will be the places where the characters will play their role. Loneliness, boredom and rudeness go with the character's feelings who yearn running away. They seem to be trapped and with few possibilities to start again in another land. Desperation will be a fact to take into account. In this context, Josie works without anxiety and lives his own world apparently happy. A horse will be almost his closest friend. Nobody understands him or even better nobody wants to understand him. An apparently insignificant event with a truck driver will change the course of the film and lead Josie to take an unexpected decision. Garage points out loneliness and the lack of understanding as the main features of the film in which the silent makes you feel that life pass slowly. The green settings and the cloudy weather surround the film increasing that feeling of loneliness and changing the characters's behavior. The film is a tragedy with comical elements which help the audience to consider Josie as pleasant character.

RAÚL PÉREZ GARCÍA CINE ANGLOAMERICANO 2009

Garage is a simple slice of realism that is filmed to perfection. It looks so small, so parochial, so realistic that some may think in the first few minutes that it's pointless making into a film. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, that's for certain. But if you are a cinema lover and love depth and meaning as much as action, then this Irish masterpiece is a must! It is the study of the central character that gives the film its real point, its purpose. It reveals this very slowly, but surely, typically Irish, and the whole thing, the story, the atmosphere, the pace, the acting, the whole lot looks authentic. The central performance by Shortt is Oscar worthy. At times the film is painful to watch because it is so brutally honest in its depiction of Josie and his difficult, empty life.

The film on the surface looks very simple, very small, but you can bet there is a lot of cinematic knowledge that's helped achieve this. The writer and director have undoubtedly watched a lot of world cinema, Mainly French, maybe a bit of German - another reviewer mentioned the similarity of Bresson, I don't know his work well enough, but I thought of Fassbinder when I saw it, that microscopically intense portrait style of a struggler in life. The photography outside is very European in flavour too, with long lingering shots of the location, and using the beauty of the landscape as a piece of art - I suppose this is classically French in technique.

As with all masterpieces, the film's real power only really hits you after it has ended. The humanity of it just tears away at you, and that gives this film its noted pathos. And it is so beautifully done, every scene is perfect, the end of scene shots of Josie looking on when his friend has left, and the minute details like him counting out the biscuits is just cinematic perfection. Yes, if you know your cinema you could say that the film makers have taken a lot of inspiration from elsewhere and constructed the most affecting tragic human portrait, but that they did it so well, chose their subject so well, and got such a great performance from the lead actor, deserves a massive heap of praise. I'm not surprised that the French loved it, I'm just a little bit surprised it didn't win more awards than it did!

No words can effect the dialogue, just all pure brilliance, You wanna make a movie, watch this, From the first scene to the tragic end, Pat Shortt has his time but he always has his time, he's just that man, a pure actor But how Lennie has run this through is so beautiful and ugly it's a work of art, Would watch this story till the end if.....

Josie works in a garage in a small town. He mans the gas pumps, sells the oils and the magazines to the travelers. Only, the town is so small and the road is so little traveled that he hardly has anything to do. Josie has also lived in this town all his life and has worked in this same garage for almost just as long. When his boss asks him to take on the weekends as well he is up for the task - and when his boss offers to send a kid as a helping hand he accepts that kid too. All in all, Josie is a very easy guy that takes the world for what it is. Too bad the world does not fully understand that.

Although somewhat predictable this film is a rather interesting one. The way the actors play out their roles make up for a glimpse of the grim reality people like Josie live in. All he wants is do good, all he gets is evil. The message is clear from the very start of the film but never starts to bore too much. This is purely due to the way the different characters get together and depict the pretty little village the film plays in - the message fits the persons and the town perfectly. When the ending comes it is dark and dreary, but fitting and only logical.

9 out of 10 good people making bad choices

Garage is Lenny Abrahamson's 2007, award winning, (Prix Art et Essai) Irish drama, starring Pat Shortt. Shortt plays Josie, a simple, tragic character, that lives in and runs the garage in a Tipperary backwater, owned by his former schoolmate, Mr. Gallagher. His life changes over the course of one Summer, when Gallagher introduces him to a boy named David, his new workmate, and a flawed relationship begins to develop. The acting is the most realistic I've ever seen. Every character in this film is taken straight from real life. They might be fictional characters, but each and every one of them exist in villages and towns throughout Ireland. Josie might seem precious and quaint, but there are thousands out there exactly like him. Each role is played to almost frightening accuracy. The Garda, played by Denis Conway, was so real in his attitude and all his dialogue, that it sent chills up my spine. It was acted in an unnaturally close manner to that of a real Garda. The plot doesn't really go very far. It starts in much the same place as it finishes. Although, perhaps it finishes more poignantly than it starts, the poignancy lies in the character of Josie himself and is present throughout the film. Peter Robertson, the Director of Photography, did a superb job. The cinematography is excellent. It's all perfectly framed and captures a certain beauty of location, without losing any realism. Living in a similar location to where this was filmed, I can personally vouch for the accuracy of every aspect of this film. It's amazing. That, funnily enough, was my main reason for disliking this film. I watch films to escape from that sad reality, and it really isn't all that pleasant to have such a close to the bone film in front of your eyes. That was also why I hated Pat Shortt's comedy series, Killinascully. Indeed there are quite a few actors from Killinascully in Garage. People from my area (mainly tractor driving hicks) see things like Killinascully and take them as an instruction manual for life, rather than a comedy series mocking them. So, the main strength of this film, it's realism, is also, for me, it's greatest weakness. I really must congratulate the director on his accuracy, which was outstanding but not appealing to me. I'd say, if you want to know what rural Ireland is really like, watch this. If you live there, just go outside. Or preferably don't. I would recommend seeing this if just for seeing Pat Shortt in a non comedic role. It's a hugely interesting film that deserves to be taken very seriously. I just didn't find it a pleasure to watch. I'm giving it a 6 out of 10, but I'm certain it deserves more.

Here we have a real rarity. An Irish film that really evidences an understanding of the place of film grammar in the art of the cinema. This rural tragi-comedy looks at a very uncomfortable sliver of the human condition.

It is, largely, about the way that the complexities of modern life can render the simple-minded tragically vulnerable. Under normal circumstances I hate - indeed loathe - films that 'overtly' mimic the works of dwarfingly great film makers. I am not sure that Abrahamson (the director) actually sought to mimic the wonderful, indeed sublime cinema of Robert Bresson, but I am sure that that is exactly what comes to mind when the film is watched. Thematically, it has much in common with 'Mouchette' (not best Bresson, but very good Bresson!). Stylistically, it resembles parts of 'L'Argent'! That the above is the case and it still grips and appeals is a great credit to the film makers. But it is not completely 'echt' of course. There are parts of Bresson's magisterial style (his use of close ups, and his total command of sound for example) that are largely missing, but, make no mistake, this is a wonderful piece of cinema.

At the centre of it is the character of Josie, a harmless simpleton, whose guileless sincerity leads him to be the butt of the cruel humour of the would-be sophisticates with whom he shares parts of his rural existence. But fate has an even crueller plan for Josie.

Effortlessly characterised by comedian Pat Shortt, the director's unflinching gaze shows Josie's blameless naiveté in heart-rending detail - his loneliness, his pain at the cruel jibes and his unreasoned optimism.

I really hate the style of cinema that seeks to drag its audience into a slough of despond, but though tragic, 'Garage' doesn't do that, because it retains its clear belief in cinema and its potential to lift the human spirit to undreamed of heights.

The movie has a lot of potential with good acting but it did not connect to me although having sympathy for the story and the script certain scenes where too much for my eyes the film lacked a certain aesthetic touch. The pace of the movie is pretty slow and varies little in rhythm. The scene on the lake, and the horse greeting - feeding were one of the best scenes but that's about it. The actors did not have the change to show off their talents as the dialogs are filmed as if it was a sort of documentary. The quality of the image disturbed me a lot especially the light effects (or lack of it). I missed a certain flair and swing that exploits more the soul of the main character.

(There where many that left the cinema during the film)

I 'grew up' in the late 70's and 80's and i now have children of my own. Yet the influences I experienced growing up, then which seemed so innocent, are now fatal!. This is an amazing film which i believe most will recognise. Both from the outsiders sentimental view of the main character, to an affinity with the 'victim' to an annoyance of the 'catalyst'. Everyone likes to share their new found experiences and understanding with those they consider friends, except it seems, you can become too old to share. However, when the sharing and empathy don't meet with the standards of modern society, then the price has to be paid. This film also includes examples of our own frailties, those we might recognise, those we disagree with, but also those we, in the quietest moment of our souls, empathise with, would not dispute!

The acting of Pat Shortt is truly stunning! The other actors, though they had their characters to play, to perfection....all were exemplary in determining another character - Pat Shortt's! His performance was brilliantly uplifted by everyone else involved in this film.

I will not be recommending this film...i will be demanding that anyone who loves life and film must see it