Lenny Abrahamson's Garage, is his second film to feature on the IFI's schools' programme. A group of students at a recent viewing had a mixed reaction
ADAM AND PAUL, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, was one of the most successful films on the Irish Film Institute's schools' programme. Despite its bleak subject matter - heroin addiction - and its shabby portrayal of Dublin's capital, schoolgoers were drawn into the film's humour and depth of characterisation. Adam and Paulwas a tragi-comedy in the tradition of Beckett: a choreography of gesture, ritual and slow movement in which nothing really happens. However, its dark comedy and gritty representation of the capital has won cult status for the film among students.
Garage, Abrahamson's most recent offering, works at the same slow pace and close focus, but the setting is more Killanaskullythan O'Connell Street. The protagonist, Josie (played by Pat Shortt) is nothing so edgy as a city drug addict. He is the middle-aged caretaker of a decrepit rural petrol station, who enjoys a couple of cans and a chop. It was always going to be a harder sell than Adam and Paul, especially to Dublin students.
When a couple of hundred 16-year-olds from different schools gathered in Temple Bar to watch Garage, IFI's head of education Alicia McGivern asked them to be patient with the film. The atmosphere in the cinema was already fizzing, but not necessarily in anticipation of Garage. With so many teenagars, male and female, confined in a dark space, they'd need devastating distraction to take their minds off each other.
The humble story of an ageing rural bachelor pumping petrol doesn't quite cut through the wolf whistles and ringtones. Between shushing teachers and showboating teenagers, there were times when it seemed that Josie was going unnoticed on film, much as he would in real life. However, there were many in the cinema who were quietly and totally entranced.
For some, the rawest frames of Garagewere utterly absorbing; for others, unbearable. When Pat Shortt stood naked in his gloomy bedroom, the vulnerability shown was interpreted by some as a comic moment. The film's closing sequence was too much for some audience members to handle, so they resorted to scoffing and giggles to get through. Garageis such a minute study that the subtleties may have been lost on distracted members of the audience. Some found the film very tough going.
"It wasn't great," said Aidan MacDonald of Coláiste Cois Life. "Not a lot happened. I think I'll forget about this film pretty soon." Wesley Byrne from St Lawrence's College in Lucan agreed. " Adam and Paulwas funnier, more entertaining. I think this one is for people from the country." Other students were totally blown away. "I'm mad emotional after that," said Eva Griffith from Coláiste Cois Life. "It was slow, but it was worth it. The atmosphere of isolation was so powerful."
Abrahamson, who took questions from students after the film, was not surprised by the response, as he has attended a number of school screenings of Garageover the last few months. " Adam and Paulalways gets a fantastic response because it's hip and culty," said Abrahamson, who has won numerous awards for Garageincluding the CICAE Art and Essai Cinema Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year. "Everywhere I go, kids are quoting lines from it. Garageis more divisive. Emotionally sensitive teenagers tend to get more out of it. Josie is an Everyman but a lot of people don't think it's about them, at least not yet."
The theme of emotional sensitivity in teens is played out in Garagein the relationship between the young David, who befriends Josie, and his mate Declan, complete with a new girlfriend and a smart mouth. Declan cannot bring himself to take Josie seriously as a human being, afraid of looking soft in front of girlfriend Louise. David, on the other hand, engages with Josie and strikes up a rewarding friendship. The two teens in the film represented two reactions in the auditorium: the defensive and snickering Declan, too drunk on hormones to take in the complex feelings of others and the thoughtful David who is responsive to different perspectives and unafraid to open up.
Like the difficult second album, Garagehas the tough job of renewing its vows with Adam and Paulfans, but, according to Alicia McGivern of IFI, many students who dismissed the film on first viewing may rethink their responses later. "We have been screening Garagearound the country as part of our education programme for transition year. The feedback we are getting from teachers tells us that many students are dismissive of the film at first because they don't see how it relates to their lives. However, over time, and after discussions in class, they start to get more out of it. One teacher in Wexford mentioned that after a couple of days his students could talk about little else."
Garage was recently voted best film at the Irish Film and Television awards.
Lenny Abrahamson was voted best director
