Adam and Paul
Dir. Lenny Abrahamson
DoP: James Matter
‘Abrahamson’s first feature and his first collaboration with actor/writer Mark O’Halloran grew from an idea concerning the lives of the inner-city junkies that Halloran passed daily on the streets of Dublin. Eschewing a socially realist approach to their material, director and writer spent a long period developing their screenplay into something far more complex and subtle than Loach on the Liffey and, in the process, moulded a new approach to Irish cinema.’
Absurdist black humour
European influences
Irish social issues
Sensitive portrayl
Simplicity
Day in the life
Ref Actor in Utopia
Pauls movement
Critics likened Adam and Paul to Laurel and Hardy and Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon.
Director Lenny Abrahamson describes it as a "tragic-comedy in the old style, old fashioned Chaplin/Laurel and Hardy era"
Film is set during the height of the Celtic Tiger boom with Dublin as its epicenter. The life of Adam and Paul is contrasted sharply against this bright new consumerist world.
TONE
Central to its success is the assured consistency of its tone, but all of its elements – script, music, camerawork, use of locations and the utterly convincing central performances of O’Halloran and the late, wonderful Tom Murphy
ENDING
Credible ending - Memorable, moving, poignant and unflinching. Perfect end for the film. Full circle
