Six Shooter

First thing I have got to say, is that I am a huge fan of Martin McDonaghs stage plays. Six-Shooter tells the tale of a recently bereaved man who finds himself in the same carriage as a mourning couple and a young psycho. The next half an hour presents all McDonaghs famous trademarks which have made him the the toast of the Theatre world.

This short film will appeal to two types of people. The first is any person who loves their action and blood and guts. It will also appeal to McDonagh's legions of Theatre fans (like myself). And for these two audiences markets the film is successful. For the person that loves there blood, there is no shortage of blood and there is Ruaidhri Conroy's callous performance as the young Psycho. For his legion of theatre fans there is the morality tale that involves all the characters and the wonderful writing and grotesque characters that has endeared McDonagh to my heart.

I would love to write more but i do not want to spoil it for any film fans that do not like theatre but have yet to experience the wonderful creative mind of Martin McDonagh

McDonagh is a brilliant story teller and fully deserves his Tony nominations and his Olivier Award for Best Play (The Pillowman). His critics have questioned his use of casual cruelty as a dramatic device, although he always grounds violence in a social context or connects sadism to particular characters' proclivities. This film is beautifully acted by Brendon Gleeson and especially Rúaidhrí Conroy, sharply photographed, and well directed by McDonagh himself. For technique alone it is Oscar-worthy. But the whole piece strikes me as an absurdist joke with insufficient resonance. This is a mélange of destructions, an indulgence in violence that reduces and parodies McDonagh's better scripts.

Finally saw this online and wondering what all the fuss is about. Almost whimsical, I couldn't quite believe the darkness at the centre of the story. There are a couple of good lines and the performances are solid – Rory Conroy being the best. Martin McDonagh is a very talented playwright, but on this evidence his directing is a little flat. Film looks and sounds flat too. What struck me about it was the superficiality of it all, the cynicism. However it does have some funny moments and moves along at a brisk pace. I'm not surprised it was looked on so favourably by the academy, picking up an Oscar for Best Short Film – it has hip written all over it. And it is one of the better short Irish films I've seen, complete with twists and double twists and a lot of flippant dialogue. McDonagh is planning a gangster film with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. I'll pay money to see that. He obviously wants to be the Celtic Scorsese. High point a cow explodes. Low point rather tasteless plot line about a baby's death. Brendan Gleeson is in this film.

Martin McDonagh is a very unorthodox director, his very Irish dark sense of humor comes across strongly throughout his films. This has often lead to them having mixed reviews on account of the fact that people judge them to be exploiting violence. Indeed McDonaghs works often contain controversial themes and content. This particularly comes across in his litary works (for example the pillow man). McDonagues theatrical influence comes across strongly in Six Shooter.It manages to successfully make use of a very simple dark plot with not a hint of cliché or Hollywood improbability.The film manages to coherently string together a strong and conclusive story through its short running time without noticeably rushing character development or background. Six shooter generally maintains a somber mood which is occasional punctuated with spectacularly funny sequences. This creates a sense on contrast that pervades the work. And leads the audience to develop a sense of uncertainty throughout the film. Brendon Gleeson and Ruhadari Conroy both perform to perfection and feel completely at home it the films potentially claustrophobic setting. In conclusion this is a superb and bizarre film which will both amuse and shock you in a way that very few modern shorts can.

"Six Shooter" is the debut written/directed film by playwright Martin McDonagh and now I want to see more of his work.

This film is suffused with death, human and animal; we see or hear about intentional deaths - murder and suicide--, natural deaths --by illness or mysterious causes, accidental deaths, and maybe a few I missed in passing.

Each character deals with death in a different way, from the psychotic to tearful grief to quiet suffering to violent reactions, and the actors portray each fully.

While Brendan Gleeson is the central widower trying to make sense of all these observations of death for his own coping mechanisms, the film is stolen by a motormouth Rúaidhrí Conroy as the most annoying guy to ever be on public transport. He non-stop goes from cheerful to entertaining to manipulative to scary and beyond.

While it does go a bit over the top, the cinematography and settings always ground it in grim reality, with a brief excursion into magic realism.

The Irish scenery outside the railway car windows does look very pretty, in contrast to what's going on inside.

I viewed this film as part of a commercial screening of Oscar nominated shorts.