Review by ellenbronx

I so love the screenplay, cinematography & performances in McDonagh's film. I had seen two of his plays years ago, one off & one on-Broadway. The script has echoes of the clipped, witty phrases of his "Cripple of Inishman" with a bit of "Waiting for Godot" (McDonagh is a major admirer of Beckett) ... And the photography, sigh--easy to expect great, sprawling vistas of Achill Island & Inishmore (the West Coast of Ireland, where my grandparents were raised, is awash with rough waves, steep cliffs, treeless plains)- but Ben Davis uses them as background without milking it. It's the interiors, the painterly use of natural light-the soft whites & golds through windows, a la Vermeer, and the splashes of candlelight on faces against dark brown, earthen walls, the chiaroscuro bringing out the isolation and well worn visages of characters looking for meaning in their existence. But with all this seriousness, there is also humor, the music of Colin Farrell's exasperation, the charm of animals always in the house... Such a quiet, wonderful film.