Six Shooter

I just found this flicking through channels and it turned out to be pretty good. seeing Brendan Gleeson kept my attention for the first few minutes, but the story is pretty shocking stuff. I liked the camera-work on the train which, despite it being filmed on a small Irish train carriage) doesn't make it feel cramped. The boys character in it is great. Even though i like Gleeson, it's Ruadhri Conroy's character that kept me watching more than anyone else. It manages to pack in a fair few unexpected turns into its half hour length, and some of it made me surprised it was aired at all. The only other guy i recognized (of the cast of about 5) was David Wilmot from intermission. Anyway for a debut this is very good and it's worth seeing. Hopefully he'll be doing something else soon

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.

They showed this on RTE television recently and I watched out of curiosity, it turned out to be much better than expected... Fantastic acting, superb casting and a fabulously brilliant and disturbing story. It's great to see the quality of Irish short films returning to something worthy of an Oscar nomination compared to some of the nonsense perpetrated throughout the past couple of years. Martin Mc Donagh is a quality playwright and this first foray into the world of movie making is a wonderful success to say the least. It's also fantastic to see the raw talent of Ruaidhri Conroy back on screen and with none other than Brendan Gleeson, the master! It's entirely deserving of it's Oscar nomination, fingers crossed for the lads. Thoroughly recommended!!!!

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.