One of the early highlights of the Sydney Film Festival has been The Guard. Directed by John Michael McDonagh and starring Brendan Gleeson (above) and Don Cheadle, this unassuming Irish film is in many respects a modern day western. With McDonagh keeping the audience guessing as to where the allegiances of our ‘hero’ (Gleeson) lies, while throwing around references to a variety of other genres (see: buddy cop), it’s easy to make comparisons to Eastwood’s Gran Torino.
I perhaps would not have seen the film in this light had it not been for a brilliant score by Arizona’s Calexico, which draws from the aural history of Western cinema. When we reach the films dénouement, the soundtrack reaches out to the audience as if to say: if you didn’t realise it yet, you’re watching a western! Always exciting and inventive, the soundtrack is the standout of a film destined to become a cult classic.
Both Gleeson and Cheadle pull brilliant performances. Gleeson shining as the hilarious, often ambiguous Guard, while the supporting cast is certainly worth a mention – in particular “the bad guys” played by Mark Strong (if there’s a movie with gangsters or drug barons, you can bet Mark Strong will be there), Liam Cunningham and David Wilmot.
The editing and cinematography are both strong, and while its reference to American Westerns (with a bit of buddy cop thrown in for good measure) makes it follow a slightly predictable path, McDonagh’s ability to place the genre into such an unlikely space, where our hero is essentially a middle aged, racist (yet lovable) alcoholic, is nothing short of a shining achievement.
Review Score: 8/10
The Guard will be released on 25th August 2011 in Australia.
