Six Shooter (2004)

Thanks for the memories!

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Your appreciation of SIX SHOOTER, a 30 minute Irish short by IN BRUGES director Martin McDonagh, largely depends on your tolerance for black comedy. I thought myself a fan of it, but after some of the subject matter played for laughs here - including cot death - I'm not so sure. Much of the material left me cold.Looks-wise, it's certainly a professional production, pitched just right and utilising a moving train carriage as an effective backdrop to the ongoing events. Brendan Gleeson is as good as ever he's been playing Donnelly, a grieving husband encountering some decidedly odd situations on board what should be an uneventful train journey. Unfortunately, much of the film revolves around Ruaidhri Conroy's ne'er-do-well Kid, and I found him so unpleasant and repulsive that much of my enjoyment was taken away as a result.Still, the acting is strong all around, the use of stark violence is effective and despite everything this feature comes away with a broad dash of Irish charm which works in its favour.

After seeing 'In Bruges', I got curious of the other film Martin McDonagh had made. This short film is also a dark comedy and tries to make fun of death, suicide and the loss of a loved one. This is of course really hard and not easy to do. It sometimes fails as well at some points, but overall it kinda succeeds. Yet another movie of Martin McDonagh I am not sure what to make of it... strange... but if you like dark twisted humour, then this film is definitely for you.I am not sure if the Oscar was really deserved, but it keeps me thinking at least... 7/10

After losing his wife to illness Donnelly boards a train and encounters three other people coping with recent loss. Two are appropriately grieving parents and one is a petty thug filled with ugly cynicism. The callous boy creates problems that Donnely attempts to soothe over but the boy seems dead set on self destruction. After not one but two extraordinary experiences on the train Donnelly arrives home intent on committing suicide. He starts by shooting his wife's beloved pet rabbit first.There is a lot to to like about Six Shooter before it implodes into a farrago of unsound logic and gratuitous violence. Brendon Gleeson as the glum Donnelly displays a touching world weary sadness while Ruaidhri Conroy as the angry young man is filled with chilling intensity. The cinematography is also commendable whether it's the the moodily lit interiors that lend to the general atmosphere or striking landscapes of the Irish countryside captured along the train ride. What doesn't wash even before the bloodbath on the train and the animal dismemberment before and after is the patience everyone shows for the loony Billy the Kid wanna be. Normal tolerance is expended beyond credibility early and director Mc Donagh deadens the pace as the boy becomes more and more outrageous. By the last stop all the subtle promise of the film's opening moments have been drowned in a sea of red.

As far as short films go, this is near the top of the list. McDonagh (formerly a playwright, here making his film debut) is a master craftsman, able to play several levels at the same time. "Six Shooter" is shocking, heartbreaking and very funny, often simultaneously. The story, in a nutshell, revolves around four people, each suffering a very recent death in their families. As they each deal with the loss in very different ways, they collide with each other, sometimes with words, sometimes with more.The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Brendan Gleeson as the sad-eyed protagonist and Rúaidhrí Conroy as a ticking time-bomb of a kid. McDonagh's pitch-perfect writing - while not approaching the near-apocalyptic absurdity of plays like "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" - is appropriately bleak. His direction is also assured, showing him to be a filmmaker to watch in coming years."Six Shooter" is available on iTunes for two dollars. If you can, buy it. It's truly a great work of modern cinema.