There are many actors and directors that I have long championed, one of which is filmmaker Martin McDonagh. More of a household name today than a few days ago, this past Sunday he took home both Best Screenplay and Best Motion Picture – Drama at the 2018 Golden Globes for his film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (the feature also won for Best Actress – Drama: Frances McDormand, and for Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell).
First and foremost a British/Irish playwright, McDonagh made his feature film debut in 2008 with the tragically under-seen In Bruges – a movie that will be reviewed on Filmizon.com in due course. This was followed by a 2012 American/British co-production, Seven Psychopaths, another intriguing film. His third is the award winner from Sunday. . . though many probably do not know that McDonagh won an Academy Award back in 2005 for Six Shooter, earning the golden figurine for Best Short Film, Live Action (his true first effort into the foray of film making).
Writing and directing each of his features, Six Shooter is no different. One of the best script writers today, his screenplays are as close to plothole free as possible. . . with even seemingly throwaway lines coming back into play later on in clever, profound or comedic ways. Comic in the blackest sense, they all fall into what could be termed crime dramedy.
Six Shooter follows Donnelly (Brendan Gleeson – one of the stars of In Bruges), a man who has just been given the jarring news that his wife has passed away earlier that morning. Somewhere between shocked and grieving, he boards a train home, sitting across from a fast-talking, foul-mouthed young man, simply named Kid (Rúaidhrí Conroy). Not the most sensitive of spirits, he continuously aggravates a Man (David Wilmot) and Woman (Aisling O’Sullivan) who have just lost their baby.
Stuck in the claustrophobic setting, tempers rise, the only momentary avenue of escape a short walk to the snack cart (a cameo from a very young Domhnall Gleeson, son of Brendan and star on the rise, to be sure). Soon, the Kid reveals that he actually lost his mother the evening before. . . adding another layer to the tense, edgy ride.
Centred around Gleeson’s more farouche (though tolerating) persona and Conroy’s bombastic, unsympathetic one, a grim humour seeps from the dark subject matter. After much banter (including God and faith), Donnelly finally lets out a sort-of-smile and allows the Kid to tell him his long hyped story about a cow with trapped gas, a fantastical tale that he claims is true.
The twenty-seven minute tale eventually leads to a place perhaps not originally expected, darker and more horrible than the flippant banter from the youth. Though, even in these macabre moments, humour can be found. . . for instance, in the Kid’s final lines to Donnelly, and again in the lead’s concluding notes. It could almost be termed a Murphy’s Law comedy conclusion, with many former threads coming together to form the finale – Donnelly’s awkward, unenviable position the epitome of ironic misfortune.
A good place to turn to start your McDonagh binge, or round out your already vast knowledge of his small but sharp, penetrating work, Six Shooter is, after all, where his film making career began (and won him his first Oscar – though likely not his last). Already demonstrating a knack for directing and writing (no surprise from a playwright), he also has the innate ability to get the most out of his actors. And, don’t despair, a quick Youtube search will have you tracking this down to learn about Donnelly’s curse of a day.
Don’t want to be on this train, that’s for sure. A gloomy and dark tale that left me sad for all of the characters, including the hyperactive young man whose inappropriate humour was desperate and twisted. Interesting subject matter, as to be expected from expert scriptwriter McDonagh . . . and he succeeds in getting his story told, by a hare.