In Garage, Irish comedian Pat Shortt plays Josie, a lonely, naïve garage attendant living and working on the fringe of a small community in rural Ireland. Probably due to Shortt's usual occupation, the UK press has misleadingly described this film as part comedy and part tragedy; Garage is actually short on laughs but emerges as a quietly powerful drama.
The portrayal of rural Ireland through Josie's experiences is decidedly unflattering. Fellow patrons at the pub mock him for his simplicity and bully him physically. One of the patrons is later seen drowning a litter of puppies in the river. Josie's acquaintance with the Carmel, the young supermarket attendant, is stifled by her wariness of him. The general tone of the community is dark and unwelcoming.
The setting, though often grim and foreboding, is shot through with moments of happiness for Josie, most strikingly at the times when he feeds the horse in the field near his home. Josie's friendship with David, a teenager who joins the garage part-time as an assistant, is a fragile source of happiness, bringing him into contact with a wider circle of young people. The closeness that begins to develop between the two is complicated by some naïve decisions on Josie's part decisions that return to haunt him.
Garage unfolds slowly and Josie's embarrassments and hurts linger uncomfortably on screen. Yet there is beauty amidst the gloom. The use of music is spare and timed to haunting effect. The camera-work is also superb, conjuring many arresting images from the confines of the garage forecourt and, at the end, juxtaposing some of the most beautiful and devastatingly sad moments imaginable.
The portrayal of rural Ireland through Josie's experiences is decidedly unflattering. Fellow patrons at the pub mock him for his simplicity and bully him physically. One of the patrons is later seen drowning a litter of puppies in the river. Josie's acquaintance with the Carmel, the young supermarket attendant, is stifled by her wariness of him. The general tone of the community is dark and unwelcoming.
The setting, though often grim and foreboding, is shot through with moments of happiness for Josie, most strikingly at the times when he feeds the horse in the field near his home. Josie's friendship with David, a teenager who joins the garage part-time as an assistant, is a fragile source of happiness, bringing him into contact with a wider circle of young people. The closeness that begins to develop between the two is complicated by some naïve decisions on Josie's part decisions that return to haunt him.
Garage unfolds slowly and Josie's embarrassments and hurts linger uncomfortably on screen. Yet there is beauty amidst the gloom. The use of music is spare and timed to haunting effect. The camera-work is also superb, conjuring many arresting images from the confines of the garage forecourt and, at the end, juxtaposing some of the most beautiful and devastatingly sad moments imaginable.