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| 'director John Michael McDonagh wants to include jokes about strippers and bestiality and racism-for-humour alongside discussions about favourite philosophers and the place of drug dealers in this Universe and the meaning of death' |
Expectations, set by trailers, are very strange things. If a trailer sells a film as being a horror, only for it to turn out to be a comedy, is it the film's fault that you, a horror fan, end up not liking it? The marketing department have set your expectations, the film-makers, through no fault of their own, have not lived up to them, regardless, you have come away feeling under-sold. Who bears the burden?
Such a conundrum exists within The Guard to no greater or lesser degree than it has existed elsewhere previously. Its very excellent trailer sells it as a comedy, when in reality the truth is a little more dark, dirty and educated. The Guard is funny, does contain all of the jokes featured in the trailer, but also wants to have a serious side: a side that deals with quotes from Nietzsche, questions about our place in the world, elements of unexpected death and character departations not be-fitting a comedy of its trailer's ilk.
And so, to one degree, the fact that The Guard feels like a reasonably sized missed opportunity, a comedy that takes itself too seriously by half, is not the fault of the film. But, to another degree, the fact that writer/director John Michael McDonagh wants to include jokes about strippers and bestiality and racism-for-humour alongside discussions about favourite philosophers and the place of drug dealers in this Universe and the meaning of death is a very real tension, perpetrated by the film-maker, that his film never resolves. The amount of tonal discomfort generated by bawdy jokes being placed directly opposite the uncomfortable death of someone who looked likely to be a main character is never entirely resolved and the film suffers because of it, the audience shifting awkwardly in their seats between straight laughter and thriller-like tensions.
Regardless of these issues there is strong work to observe from Brendan Gleeson and Liam Cunningham as cop and drug dealer respectively, Gleeson proving that he is infinitely at home in this sort of thing, as previously shown by Lake Placid, amongst others. Cunningham, hardly taking top billing behind fellow co-stars Mark Strong and Don Cheadle is clearly the other standout, peddling a nice line in intelligent drug dealing and providing the film's single best conversation, inevitably featured in the trailer, about 'Bozo The Clown' and last night's murder.
Fleetingly funny but extremely unbalanced and everything that's not 'comedy' feels like any other tale of cops vs. drug dealers.
Look further...
Slacker Cinema goes in search of The Guard's many posters, discovering that Russia replaced Don Cheadle with a sheep and Brendan Gleeson's testicles.
Very interesting points on McDonagh's jokes/dialogue. I thought most of the stuff was funny, but you're right. He falls in love with his words sometimes at the expense of the scene.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of that I think. The scene later on with the killer in Gerry's house loses a lot of momentum, as does the scene when they're talking about favourite quotes in the killer's car. Just a lot there that I think doesn't mesh well together.
DeleteYou bring up a good point about marketing, and I think the film shouldn't be held up for scrutiny based on how it's marketed (which is why I desperately avoid trailers). But, still, I get your point about the dichotomy in tone here. It works, and sometimes it doesn't work but overall it ends up being a success (albeit, with issues) for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd, am I alone in thinking Mark Strong is excellent here?
I think Mark Stone's good but I have to say, he's starting to be a bit one-dimensional as a villain for me. Found him much more interesting in TINKER TAILOR than in very similar roles here, in ROBIN HOOD, GREEN LANTERN and the first SHERLOCK HOLMES.
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