IMDb > Garage (2007)
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Garage (2007) -- Movieplayer.it - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.0/10   1,036 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 4% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Leonard Abrahamson
Writer:
Mark O'Halloran (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Garage on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
5 October 2007 (Ireland) more
Genre:
Drama more
Plot:
A tragicomedy set in the world of gas stations in rural Ireland, where over-diligent employee of the garage searches for intimacy during the course of a life-changing summer. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
11 wins & 8 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(6 articles)
Cheadle & Gleeson Join Forces For 'The Guard'
 (From IFTN. 29 October 2009, 12:29 AM, PDT)
Jury & New Dates for Stranger Than Fiction Fest
 (From IFTN. 6 April 2009, 7:02 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
A man who may understand more than he wants to more (27 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Pat Shortt ... Josie
Anne-Marie Duff ... Carmel
Conor Ryan ... David
Tommy Fitzgerald ... Declan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Andrew Bennett ... Sully
Denis Conway ... Garda Michael
George Costigan ... Dan
Tom Hickey ... Mr. Skerrit

Una Kavanagh ... Pauline
John Keogh ... Mr. Gallagher
Suzy Lawlor ... Louise
Jason Nelligan ... Lester
Don Wycherley ... Breffni
more
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
Canada:85 min (Toronto International Film Festival)
Country:
Ireland
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Certification:
Ireland:15A | Canada:14A | UK:18 | France:Unrated | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R16
Filming Locations:
Ireland
Company:
Element Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Garage has been awarded the Prix Art et Essai by the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Carmel offers Josie a bag for his shopping, she gives him a plastic bag, but does not charge him the 22c plastic bag levy in place in Ireland. This was probably a kindness on her part. more
Movie Connections:
Features The Affair (2006) (V) more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful.
A man who may understand more than he wants to, 30 May 2008
8/10
Author: Fogo

Josie is a man who has been assigned the roles in life of pumping petrol and being the village idiot. He qualifies for the former job by being loyal to his boss, diligent about his work tasks, and friendly to the customers. He qualifies for the latter job because of some sort of mild mental disability that makes him slow to process ideas and not too good at standing up for himself. In fact he's not that stupid - one gets the impression that he was a slow child whom people got into the habit of talking down to, but that he understands more than other people acknowledge or that he even acknowledges himself.

People like Josie are litmus tests for distinguishing bullies from people who are fundamentally decent. The bullies, both teenagers and adults, treat him as if he doesn't even understand the cruel remarks they direct towards him. The people of conscience don't take any satisfaction from mocking someone who can't respond in kind, and they recognise that he is a man capable of being hurt. However their kindness can only go so far: they can't engage with Josie as equals, they can't talk to him about relationships or children or careers, and the weather and the news of the town provide only a minute or two of conversational material.

Even more uncomfortable to watch than his treatment by the bullies is the use people make of him as a confidant of last resort. They unburden their hearts to him in the assumption that he has nothing better to do than listen to them, and expecting from him the kind of unconditional sympathy one would get from a pet dog. There is no reciprocation here: nobody asks him how he's really getting on, even though it's painfully obvious that he is a severely unhappy man with a threadbare cloak of conventional cheeriness, and that he is in no state to take on the burden of other people's unhappiness.

The action of this slow moving film can be said to be driven by the intrusions of the wider world into a rural community. Josie's livelihood is threatened by economic development, and his role as the village idiot is threatened, if that's an appropriate word, by the dilution of the community with "blow ins". Being a village idiot is a cruel and marginal existence for Josie, but it does mean that when he takes a wrong turn, people have a ready explanation for his actions, and can be quite tactful and kind in nudging him back in the right direction. When the village fills up with more and more people who haven't known Josie since birth, his behaviour is in danger of being interpreted in a different way.

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Message Boards

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
perfect irish summer representation apfelsaft81
What town?! And did this make anyone else cry?! RainyNightHouse
Where to find subs? forgether
Wonderful madmadrid
tragicomedy? omniron
The ending (SPOILERS) jbarta
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