ada
the leading man is my tpye
Nonureva
Really Surprised!
PiraBit
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
runamokprods
Funny, bleak, sad, absurdist look at a day in the life two Dublin heroin addicts. It's more 'Waiting for Godot' than 'Trainspotting'. Two wonderful lead performances by Tom Murphy and Mark O'Halloran as a sort of dark, drug addled Laurel and Hardy.It's terrifically shot, with wonderful wide angle images of our two anti-heroes tramping through the urban jungle. The ending wasn't quite as powerful for me as I think it was meant to be, and a few twists felt a bit forced. But weeks after seeing it, images and moments stick in my mind. Always the sign of a good film.Great to see that director Lenny Abrahamson continued to grow and make very strong films after this, including "What Richard Did", "Frank" and the Oscar nominated "Room", the last two finally garnering him some well deserved recognition beyond his homeland.
joegreene32
Having watched a lot of Irish films recently, this is one of the better ones, and yet there is something off kilter in making a laugh out of junkies' dysfunctional lives. Mark Halloran's script is problematic at times – Laurel and Hardy on smack being the tag-line. But his performance is impressive; he inhabits his character well, while Tom Murphy plays the pathetic sidekick for laughs. The story is episodic, basically two heroin addicts trying to score. They wander around the city, meeting other characters and even get round to mugging a disabled person. There is a suitably jaunty soundtrack, but after a while it becomes a little repetitive. The director's background in advertising shows in the slick visuals and the whole package is well put together. It throws up interesting questions about portraying the marginalized. Are their stories being robbed to win plaudits and awards. Would a film about coke sniffing advertising folk be as interesting.. Still in a sea of mediocrity, it's worth a look. High point the resolution, low point Murphy's occasional gurning for the camera. Warning: Brendan Gleeson is not in this film.
Shawn Watson
Everybody in the world ought to know that. Yet there are still people who do. Adam and Paul proves this as well as showing the hopeless deprivation homeless junkies exist in. It's not depressing, unless you're a junkie yourself and are heading in that direction.In the course of one single day, Adam and Paul try to scam their way through hunger, friends and their relentless need for more heroin. They are clueless, zombified and about as dead as living people get. It's hard to feel sorry for them, in fact you'll probably feel as much contempt for them as their former friends (hardly first-class citizens themselves) do when they show up and mooch.If you think your life is crap then you need only to compare it to Adam and Paul to cheer yourself up. And if you were ever tempted by drugs then this film ought to put you off that curiosity.
stephenpaultaylor
One of the best films at the Berlinale Film Festival. Gritty, disturbing with doses of black humour thrown in. The characters are likable and the film never dives into emotional manipulation. It's social realism at it's finest, creatively shot and brilliantly acted. Poignant and unforgettable.The dynamics between the two characters are fascinating. Childhood friends, thrown together since age fourteen, living on the streets, without hope, full of despair, Adam constantly berates and yells at Paul but there is above all, a deep, lasting bond between them. They are despicable characters in so many ways, but there is such tragedy in their eyes and so much despair in their bones, and you end up feeling for them, and a certain innate understanding and empathy. They're outcasts with zero future. They're the "pathetic" people we walk past and ignore every day, and, in the film, they mesmerize.Somebody said to me it's like Trainspotting without the humour. I'd say it's like Trainspotting, but without the over the top camera tricks, visualizations and the like. There is more social reality and despair, ala Mike Leigh. There is humour, but on a more subtle level.It sticks with you.
