Just perfect...

i must have seen a different film!!

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

When one watches Irish films, one expects that the dialog is going to be so much more important than any action sequences. It's the reason we are here.Brendan Gleeson is also the reason we are here, as he is one of the finest and funniest actors in England. Bunny (Gleeson) gets to accompany Git (Peter McDonald) on a job. Along the way, we come across interesting characters like Frank Grogan (Peter Caffrey), and interesting locales with their own special stories.But, like we saw in In Bruges, it it McDonald and Gleeson that carry the film.

What a find 1997 Irish film I Went Down turned out to be; a film that greatly reminded me of Stephen Frears' 1984 film entitled The Hit and one that packs in just about everything from crime to comedy; from the gangster genre to the road movie arc and from the buddy sub-genre to the sorting out of romances with loved ones. I Went Down doesn't ever exploit nor does it trivialise its subject matter and nor does it ever loose focus by lurching down one route by way of centring too much on one of the many ingredients it takes on. The film is a balanced buddy comedy, veering off into scenes of great disturbance and wrong-doing in a timely and tasteful manner but retaining a certain 'feel' to it; a certain heart.Some of the central themes to I Went Down revolve around relationships between human beings. The placement of I Went Down in the 'road movie' narrative arc enables the two central protagonists and a third character, who's being transported, to bond for long periods in a lone location as they physically travel together. The leads are Git Hynes (McDonald), a young man just out of prison, and Bunny Kelly (Gleeson), a rough and ready if somewhat clumsy criminal that has his own way in which to see that the job's done. They are charged by a certain criminal boss named Tom French (Doyle) to travel to Cork and recover Frank Grogan (Caffrey) before taking him to a remote, rural location (always a dangerous place in these noir-infused tales) for supposed judgement.The film recalls 1984's The Hit as a film about two men, of rather unbalanced 'types' transport a third, seemingly more helpless man, to his supposed death. Whereas John Hurt's silent and experienced gangster was in direct comparison to Tim Roth's younger and more scociopathic up-coming criminal; Gleeson and McDonald's two leads are explored more physically; as one exhibits short, wiry and somewhat soft-bodied characteristics as opposed to a much larger, clumsy and more 'involving' individual that likes the attention and action. In both The Hit and I Went Down, the supposedly hapless victim wears a face of acceptance; he sits in the rear of the car and seems cool with his dangerous predicament; and while Terrance Stamp will forever be better known, Peter Caffrey's performance as the upbeat and talkative soon-to-be-in-mortal-danger individual goes down rather well.Some of the things I noticed early on included an amusing dig at BSkyB, probably on behalf of the BBC who co-funded this, when it appears some gangsters have it in mind that taking a man out back, sitting him down in front of the TV and tuning into a Sky Sports channel is a dreadful punishment. I also got the sense that Git, the lead, wasn't imposing enough or rugged enough to carry the sort of character he was playing, although this was sort of the point in the sense his partner, Bunny, took on the necessary conventions. By the end, we've met some pretty rough and ready characters; those that are involved in murder and criminal activity whereas Git, as this alienated young man more-so a gangster, just seems to share this space with these people in an out-of-his-depth predicament. The tactic here being able to get across a sense of vulnerability in one of the leads, someone who is involved with people but doesn't share the criminally efficient mindset, best demonstrated with Git's surprise when it transpires Bunny has unexpectedly robbed a petrol station.So if Git is the glue around which the story unravels, then it is Bunny who undergoes the most interesting of transformations. Both men reveal some pretty deep feelings as well as tales as they sit at a dark, glum-looking and smoky hotel bar – is there any better cinematic space for two men to talk of women and loves-past? – and we realise why Bunny berated Frank earlier on in the car when he began conversations of a sexual nature. Bunny's issues and patchy relationship with his wife are best explored during a phone call to her; the half painted/half to be painted stair banister located just behind the figure on the phone stands as an excellent symbolist representation of a relationship that should be leading up (like a banister as it leads you up the stairs), but just feels rocky and half baked. The symbolism here works better than it should, because we've built up a connection of some sort with these people who are, essentially, criminals but bumbling and down-to-earth people caught up in something far meaner.One of the film's other ideas that it sort of touches on here and there is the connection the men make as they undergo their journey. In a fleeting moment that Frank manages to evade his captors, he escapes to another hotel and bathes; but Bunny is equally quick witted and arrives in his room only to physically get into the bath with Frank while fully clothed in what is a scene that takes both Frank and the rest of the audience by total surprise. The earlier gag about Bunny being caught in the past for indecent exposure, which had previously been in the back of our minds, jumps right to the front again as Bunny forces his way into the same 'space' as his goal. I Went Down is a darkly comic, somewhat disturbing at times, but very engrossing film that comes complete with a broad atmosphere and a respectable attitude to some rather intimate ideas. It's a winner.

A rare thing in Irish cinema ...an Irish movie that's not afraid to be authentically Irish. Where other movies attempt to tailor their image and dialogue to suit an American or British market this independent gem from Paddy Breathnach and Conor McPherson depicts believable characters acting and talking in a way that real Irish people would ...a great example being how seriously the lead duo consider the handling of a gun (guns are still not very easy to come across in Irish society and having one is a big deal. The screenplay has echoes of Tarantino and the Coen brothers while not being a slavish rip-off of either and essentially plays as a buddy, road movie; it even manages to include a scene in an Irish bog without seeming twee! Brendan Gleeson's star turn as bunny provides the perfect foil to McDonald's shy, pent-up lead and the movie manages to evoke laughter, sympathy and ultimately happiness as it winds it's way to a satisfactory, yet not overly sugar-coated, ending.Be warned ...I watched this film with my old Canadian flatmate and had to explain a lot of the 'Irish-ism's' in the dialogue as it went along so some of the humour may go over the heads of non Irish-viewers.

"I Went Down" is a droll, sometime monotonous, sometimes clever comedy about a couple of guys who run an errand for a small time gangster and end up embroiled an underworld scheme of very limited proportions. The film spends most of its time studying the characters involved as its mildly humorous story unfolds leading to an eventful conclusion which may or may not be worth the wait depending on individual taste. "I Went Down", the title, is a double entendre representative of the very subtle humor the film embodies. A worthwhile watch for those who enjoy puns and dry humor.