Garage (2007)

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.

Director:

Lenny Abrahamson

Writer:

Mark O'Halloran

Stars:

Pat Shortt, John Keogh, George Costigan

11 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pat Shortt	...	Josie
John Keogh	...	Mr. Gallagher
George Costigan	...	Dan
Anne-Marie Duff	...	Carmel
Conor Ryan	...	David
Anne Byrne	...	Vivienne
Gary Lilburn	...	Val
Brian Doherty	...	Bon
Don Wycherley	...	Breffni
Andrew Bennett	...	Sully
Tommy Fitzgerald	...	Declan
Suzy Lawlor	...	Louise
Fiona Kelly	...	Woman at Pumps
Tom Hickey	...	Mr. Skerrit
Una Kavanagh	...	Pauline

Storyline

Tragi-comedy from the margins of contemporary Irish life. Regarded by his neighbors as a harmless misfit, eliciting idle kindness, benign tolerance and occasional abuse, Josie has spent all his adult life as the caretaker of a crumbling petrol station on the outskirts of a small town in the mid-west of Ireland. He is limited, lonely, yet relentlessly optimistic and, in his own peculiar way, happy. But then over the course of a summer, Josie's world shifts. A teenager, David, comes to work with him. David likes him. They open up to each other and suddenly the lonely adult is drinking cans down at the railway tracks with the local kids. He is awakened to needs in himself that have never been met. And Carmel, from the local shop, who has always been kind to him, stirs feelings within him that he struggles to name. And then one thoughtless moment unravels the threads of faltering friendship. Events spiral. Josie's life is changed, forever.

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Plot Keywords:

ireland | gas station | garage | small town | misfit | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

MK2 [fr] Official site

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 2007 (Ireland)

Also Known As:

Garaje

Filming Locations:

Ireland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Element Pictures, Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, Bórd Scannán na hÉireann

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 85 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The reason why this film received the highest UK cinema rating - 18 - is entirely due to the close-up of the porn video that Josie receives from a van driver.

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Goofs

When Josie is walking home from the chip shop, he is carrying a bag chips but nothing else. In the next shot he now has the chips and the bag of beer cans he bought before leaving the bar.

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Connections

Features The Affair (2006)

User Reviews

poignant and touching snapshot of Irish life.....

Garage arrives at a great time for Irish cinema. The output and standard of Irish film is at an all time low with an exception like Adam and Paul, a film from the same people that made Garage. Writer Mark O Halloran is a sure hand at capturing the subtle nuances of everyday Irish life. In his previous outing Adam and Paul he delved in to the world of two strung out Dublin heroin addicts. In Garage we join Josie in his hum drum existence as a petrol station attendant in a nameless provincial Irish village. Josie is not the sharpest tool in the box but his cheery demeanor aids the viewer in being won over by him.

Pat Short in his first dramatic role subverts his usual comic representation of the country redneck by infusing his portrayal of Josie with great pathos and genuine humor. Short has altered his stride in more ways than one here, totally changing his gait and physicality to become the character of Josie. It is an excellent performance from Short and as an Irish man who has been exposed to his previous life as simply a comic performer, a revelation.

Leonard Abrahamson who also directed Adam and Paul has made a film that is visually beautiful. The local shop, the quiet village street and the starkly beautiful Irish countryside punctuate the film creating a strong sense of place for the audience. These also serve to bring us in to the numbing routine of Josie's daily existence. He lives in terrible conditions but he blames no one and trudges on until closing time each day. Abrahamson revels in the everyday and the ordinary in Garage. Two men smoking outside a pub, a shop worker chatting to Josie outside her shop; these everyday scenes are woven in to the tapestry of Garage and in turn made in to something extraordinary.

Garage is a wonderful movie. Abrahamson as director and O Halloran as writer have made the best two Irish films of the last ten years in 'Adam and Paul' and 'Garage'. Finally I would just like to mention the great Tom Murphy who co starred in Adam and Paul as he just recently passed away. He will be sorely missed.