CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Andres-Camara I've seen this movie because I saw another of the director, The room, and how I loved it, because I thought that why not repeat, but unfortunately, they do not always do good jobs. It's disappointing because it does not count at all. Why it takes a long time to start. Why is lost in planes that say nothing. There are sequences that you do not know what they are for because you already know what you want to tell them. And the end does not add anything.The actors are very well, yes, it's true, they do it very well. The problem is that they do not have much narrative arc.He has a very independent film photograph, that is, he does not have a photograph. It is not used to count anything. It's white and that's it.The address, I do not understand how someone who makes this movie can then make another one so good. In this he does not know what bores. He does not know that he is not going anywhere. He does not know how to put the camera in a place that is not general or close-up.It happens to many directors, who make a great movie in their career and neither the previous nor the following are worth anything. Hopefully that is not the case and have great movies to come.

Fatboydim I had heard so many good things about this film. Poignant, sad, funny, gentle etc etc. However it's a missed opportunity. Pat Shortt portrays a man who is "Childlike". Whether he has some form of autism or not is not made clear, because it's a vague portrayal. Essentially the character never gets angry, rarely shows much emotion other than a general soft confusion. Smiles inanely a lot of the time. Does pointless jobs. As a portrayal of someone with Learning Difficulties it's lacking. People with LD, whether it's through severe epilepsy,Autism or Downs... have a range of emotions. In particular anger, frustration and a pent up sexual frustration. They get lonely, sad and also laugh and cry. Josie just grins. There was a real opportunity with this film to explore some of the issues people with LD face... Instead we got cardboard cut outs. All the characters may as well have worn t-shirts with, sad, sad and lonely, sad and lonely and drunk, sad and lonely and bully, sad and lonely and misunderstood. Every single character in the film was depressed, and had the same general malaise about them. The film has been praised for it's realism, I live in a small Irish town... during one of the most economically depressed times... and mostly people cover up their sadness... we'll all have a good moan and bitch, but the banter and humor is always there. None of the characters gradually revealed their inner thoughts or emotions... they were on display all the time. The only exception to this - everyone is miserable and showing it rule - was a cameo from the always reliable, George Costigan. It's certainly not a tragicomedy. I laughed only once - Josie's attempts to clear up after teenagers. As a drama it also lacks variation, because little happens and the incident that leads us to the film's inevitable conclusion is so slight that a viewer is bound to ask... Why now? After all Josie doesn't change at any point in the film. When he dances with a girl... it doesn't go far enough... When he watches the film with the teenage boy ... it doesn't go far enough... Both presented opportunities for the dramatist that he failed to follow through on.Yet it is enough for Josie to share the same fate as the puppies... And because the puppies are included we know that's the way Josie will choose to resolve his issues. I'm trying to be subtle in this review... but why bother? The film isn't... even the last frames of the film are hokey... a Horse that has been tethered in a field is now loose and free. Good grief!I have also heard good things about Mark O'Haloran's Adam and Paul - Again directed by Lenny Abrahamson - I'll give it a go at some point... but I don't hold out much hope. At the end of the film I just felt bored and disappointed.

Irishfilmfanatic From the team that brought us the wonderful "Adam and Paul" comes the slower and less comedic story of Josey, (Pat Shortt) a simple minded Garage worker in a changing rural town. The plot is not a 'high concept' one, and unfolds slowly with lot's of attention to character. However, it is never boring and has such a spellbinding atmosphere that one feels in the hand's of artists. The script is a sparse and economic masterclass in storytelling and the direction is of unforced confidence. The acting is flawless and the visuals again unfussy but beautiful. This all ties up to a very interesting end which will have you thinking for a long time to come.

Fogo Josie has been assigned the roles in life of pumping petrol and being the village idiot. He qualifies for the former role by being loyal to his boss, diligent about his work tasks, and friendly to the customers. He qualifies for the latter role because of some sort of mild mental disability that makes him slow to process ideas and not too good at standing up for himself. In fact he's not that stupid - one gets the impression that he was a slow child whom people got into the habit of talking down to, but that he understands more than other people acknowledge or that he even acknowledges himself.People like Josie are litmus tests for distinguishing bullies from people who are fundamentally decent. The bullies, both teenagers and adults, treat him as if he doesn't even understand the cruel remarks they direct towards him. The people of conscience don't mock him because they know he can't respond in kind, and they recognise that he is capable of being hurt. However their kindness can only go so far: they can't engage with Josie as equals, they can't talk to him about relationships or children or careers, and the weather and the news of the town provide only a minute or two of conversational material.Even more uncomfortable to watch than his treatment by the bullies is the use people make of him as a confidant of last resort. They unburden their hearts to him in the assumption that he has nothing better to do than listen to them, and expecting from him the kind of unconditional sympathy one would get from a pet dog. There is no reciprocation, nobody asks him how he is getting on, so Josie's unhappiness remains unarticulated beneath the conventional cheeriness that he presents to the world and the world expects of him. The action of this slow moving film can be said to be driven by the intrusions of the wider world into a rural community. Josie's livelihood is threatened by economic development, and his role as the village idiot is threatened, if that's an appropriate word, by the dilution of the community with "blow ins". Being a village idiot is a cruel and marginal existence for Josie, but it does mean that when he takes a wrong turn, people have a ready explanation for his actions, and can be quite tactful and kind in nudging him back in the right direction. When the village fills up with more and more people who haven't known Josie since birth, his behaviour is in danger of being interpreted in a different way.