Adam & Paul

It takes some work to make anyone feel sorry for junkies but 'Adam and Paul' is a film that succeeds beyond any expectation. Yes, it shows the appalling lives of two junkies who have clearly been 'down so long' they have pretty much lost contact with reality, but it also makes you laugh, for even in their lives there is sometimes something amusing.

It's grim and the words 'with hilarious consequences' are not going to appear in my review, but the film does show there is still some humanity in them, particularly in the scenes with their pal. Yes, their condition makes them dislikeable people who are always on the look out for money to steal and people to scam from, but we are asked to appreciate that there is a glimmer of hope: no matter how dim.

A must see film, but make sure you're in an optimistic frame of mind before you go in, because 'Adam and Paul' will take its toll on the sunniest disposition.

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.

I first saw this film a couple of years back and had forgotten the names of the characters (a reflection on my memory NOT the film!). To my delight, I chanced to catch it again on TV this year.

Though it may help to have a liberal attitude, it's not necessary to be acquainted with the demi-monde depicted here to appreciate the truthfulness shown in its writing and execution. The dark humour is grotesque and incisive.... and very, very funny.

It might be easy to overlook the fact that the Down's Syndrome lad is actually an ACTOR doing his thing (because of the cringe-worthy nature of the scene here), but the incident serves to illustrate in a shocking way the amorality of the world that Adam and Paul inhabit. It's uncomfortable viewing, but its heart is in the right place.

That aside, there are more laugh-out-loud moments than the subject matter should hope to muster, and the senses of both pathos and revulsion at the end are masterfully combined. A truly unforgettable treat.

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.

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.