Adam & Paul

One of the first comments in the movie becomes the corner post of the irony of urban life. Paul states "I feel sorry for those Bulgarians.." while living in conditions that are as bad as anywhere. The actors did a great job, and you feel hungry and cold and angst with them. If the director's intention was to get viewers to feel empathy for the main characters, it works well.

The setting, the boy's hometown neighborhood, provides links to the boys' past and some later conversation gives an indication how their state of affairs came to be. The pace is a bit slow, but dramatic rather than boring. Making movies about junkies, it's easy to be dramatic and provide impact, this one does well. Not as graphic as it could have been, but definitely satisfying. Entertaining and quite sobering, probably a good watch for any 14yr old urban male as an education of consequences.

One of the best films at the Berlinale Film Festival. Gritty, disturbing with doses of black humour thrown in. The characters are likable and the film never dives into emotional manipulation. It's social realism at it's finest, creatively shot and brilliantly acted. Poignant and unforgettable.

The dynamics between the two characters are fascinating. Childhood friends, thrown together since age fourteen, living on the streets, without hope, full of despair, Adam constantly berates and yells at Paul but there is above all, a deep, lasting bond between them. They are despicable characters in so many ways, but there is such tragedy in their eyes and so much despair in their bones, and you end up feeling for them, and a certain innate understanding and empathy. They're outcasts with zero future. They're the "pathetic" people we walk past and ignore every day, and, in the film, they mesmerize.

Somebody said to me it's like Trainspotting without the humour. I'd say it's like Trainspotting, but without the over the top camera tricks, visualizations and the like. There is more social reality and despair, ala Mike Leigh. There is humour, but on a more subtle level.

It sticks with you.

Funny, bleak, sad, absurdist look at a day in the life two Dublin heroin addicts.

It's more 'Waiting for Godot' than 'Trainspotting'. Two wonderful lead performances by Tom Murphy and Mark O'Halloran as a sort of dark, drug addled Laurel and Hardy.

It's terrifically shot, with wonderful wide angle images of our two anti-heroes tramping through the urban jungle.

The ending wasn't quite as powerful for me as I think it was meant to be, and a few twists felt a bit forced.

But weeks after seeing it, images and moments stick in my mind. Always the sign of a good film.

Great to see that director Lenny Abrahamson continued to grow and make very strong films after this, including "What Richard Did", "Frank" and the Oscar nominated "Room", the last two finally garnering him some well deserved recognition beyond his homeland.

I first saw this film a couple of years back and had forgotten the names of the characters (a reflection on my memory NOT the film!). To my delight, I chanced to catch it again on TV this year.

Though it may help to have a liberal attitude, it's not necessary to be acquainted with the demi-monde depicted here to appreciate the truthfulness shown in its writing and execution. The dark humour is grotesque and incisive.... and very, very funny.

It might be easy to overlook the fact that the Down's Syndrome lad is actually an ACTOR doing his thing (because of the cringe-worthy nature of the scene here), but the incident serves to illustrate in a shocking way the amorality of the world that Adam and Paul inhabit. It's uncomfortable viewing, but its heart is in the right place.

That aside, there are more laugh-out-loud moments than the subject matter should hope to muster, and the senses of both pathos and revulsion at the end are masterfully combined. A truly unforgettable treat.

A film about two messers with much to live for and very little to love.

The two characters wake up on mattress in the middle of a field in which one of them finds themselves glued to;

Things cant possibly get worse for these to but that's all that seems to happen to these to supposedly harmless and unintentionally witty degenerates. The new breed of dubs who have hit rock bottom but seem to stay down there in a hopeless dead-headed fashion.

The dialog and characters melt into an almost beckett-like feel, but don't be fooled there is no particular art in this, but sheer desperation and hopelessness.

Both characters are met with hostility and mistrust almost everywhere they go.

One f**k up after another leads them into some kind of divine miracle of two bags of heroin that literally falls out of the sky.

The hardest thing about watching this film is working out whether it is a tragic- comedy or the lines and characters are actually played the way it would have been in real life. God know, if you have ever lived in Dublin these lads are all over the place. Lads who came from nothing with nothing to give the world let alone themselves but somehow survive in a frowned upon but reluctantly accepted way of life.

The movie struck a note with me and left me feeling sad and hopeless for our two leads. i guess there is no hope after all.

Like Intermission it had that 'real dublin' feel to it but i'd say even darker.

It deserves to be seen so far as it was probably made for a couple of hundred thousand euro's as the performances are strong and varied.

'this is not a commercial movie and 'i don't think it will make much of name for itself but it deserves to be seen by those who would appreciate it for what it is.

A slice of bleak reality in modern day Dublin city.