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)
In Garage, a truck driver friend gives Josie a copy of The Affair on videotape. He watches it, and a few brief clips appear on screen.

User Reviews

Brilliant but bleak.

Garage is a strange film, good but strange, its one of those films that can hold your attention despite nothing much really happening. It focuses on Josie, played by Pat Shortt, a garage attendant who isn't the shiniest tool in the box, he's harmless enough but his naivety means he is the butt of jokes and lives a very lonely existence. The town is small and everyone knows everyone and with no real friends Josie grasps at any interaction from talking to the local horse, his fleeting chats to long distance lorry driver Dan and to the blokes in the pub despite the fact they are obviously horrible to him. But it's when he gets David as his new young assistant at the garage that things start to change. Saddled with his own problems, adolescence, alienation, isolation and growing pains, David and Josie strike up a friendship, David thinks Josie is brilliant as he supplies him with beers after work and for Josie it's just someone to talk with but the seemingly harmless relationship starts to take a darker turn. With a script that is at times equal in its ability to make you laugh and feel uncomfortable the film is one which will not sit easy with some audiences, ultimately its bleakness may be a little too much for some. That said all the performances are great and while showing how the simple life can be complicated it also shows how beautiful the country Ireland is, but it's really all about the crippling loneliness that can affect us as humans and Shortt's mannerisms and portrayal are startling and in this respect it really is his film. Add to this the subtlety and calmingly paced direction and you have a gem of a movie that leaves a bitter but brilliant taste.