Adam & Paul

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.

One of the first comments in the movie becomes the corner post of the irony of urban life. Paul states "I feel sorry for those Bulgarians.." while living in conditions that are as bad as anywhere. The actors did a great job, and you feel hungry and cold and angst with them. If the director's intention was to get viewers to feel empathy for the main characters, it works well.

The setting, the boy's hometown neighborhood, provides links to the boys' past and some later conversation gives an indication how their state of affairs came to be. The pace is a bit slow, but dramatic rather than boring. Making movies about junkies, it's easy to be dramatic and provide impact, this one does well. Not as graphic as it could have been, but definitely satisfying. Entertaining and quite sobering, probably a good watch for any 14yr old urban male as an education of consequences.

A film about two messers with much to live for and very little to love.

The two characters wake up on mattress in the middle of a field in which one of them finds themselves glued to;

Things cant possibly get worse for these to but that's all that seems to happen to these to supposedly harmless and unintentionally witty degenerates. The new breed of dubs who have hit rock bottom but seem to stay down there in a hopeless dead-headed fashion.

The dialog and characters melt into an almost beckett-like feel, but don't be fooled there is no particular art in this, but sheer desperation and hopelessness.

Both characters are met with hostility and mistrust almost everywhere they go.

One f**k up after another leads them into some kind of divine miracle of two bags of heroin that literally falls out of the sky.

The hardest thing about watching this film is working out whether it is a tragic- comedy or the lines and characters are actually played the way it would have been in real life. God know, if you have ever lived in Dublin these lads are all over the place. Lads who came from nothing with nothing to give the world let alone themselves but somehow survive in a frowned upon but reluctantly accepted way of life.

The movie struck a note with me and left me feeling sad and hopeless for our two leads. i guess there is no hope after all.

Like Intermission it had that 'real dublin' feel to it but i'd say even darker.

It deserves to be seen so far as it was probably made for a couple of hundred thousand euro's as the performances are strong and varied.

'this is not a commercial movie and 'i don't think it will make much of name for itself but it deserves to be seen by those who would appreciate it for what it is.

A slice of bleak reality in modern day Dublin city.

This is a touching and frank portrayal of a day in the life of two Dublin junkies called Adam and Paul and their modern day "odessy" around Dublin, a Dublin not often seen on screen.

Adam and Paul have reached rock bottom and spend their entire day walking around Dublin trying to beg, borrow or steal enough money to secure their next fix. There are some bittersweet moments of comedy that come from tragedy in it's rawest form with both of the lead actors turning in excellent performances as the down and out Adam and Paul.

The fact that the film makers manage to get the audience on the side of Adam and Paul is a testament to how well written and acted a piece this is. It's hard not to empathise with them as they struggle to find their next fix.

This is a story that will stay with you.

ADAM & PAUL is one of those zero budget films that turns out to be a lot, lot better than bigger-budgeted fare. It's a quirky Irish indie, doing what ONCE did for musicals for the drug genre if you look at it that way; the sparse narrative follows a couple of low life characters as they go through the course of a day shoplifting, mugging, and indulging in petty crime to get the money for their next fix.

There's something fresh and naturalistic about films like this and ADAM & PAUL is indeed a wonderful little production. The simple, episodic nature of the storyline brings this into comparison with the classic 'journey' narratives of old and the characters are delightfully scuzzy, which make the viewing experience all the more fun. In fact, I was surprised at how funny this is for such an unrelentingly grim tale; it's true to life, made with plenty of that Irish charm, so there's little to dislike here. Tom Murphy gives the best performance as the put-upon Paul - there wouldn't be much of a film without him - and knowing the actor died of cancer some three years after this film's release only adds to the bittersweet nature of the production.