Middletown (Brian Kirk, 2006)

With: Matthew McFadyen, Daniel Mays, Eva Birthistle, Gerard McSorley

Plot: Ireland, the 1950's. Returning from being a missionary, priest Gabriel (McFadyen) finds his hometown, and his family, in a state of sin. Railing against this, he tries to change their ways by any means possible (ie becomes a maniac).

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Kirk obviously believes he's making something important here, with things to say about religion and society, and while it achieves a sort of credibility with a well conceived family situation, it's really pure, silly melodrama underneath. Luckily the cast are all excellent, McFadyen (who literally seems to hover around over the townsfolk) gives an elegant performance which helps to make an extremely OTT character a convincing force of nature. Really it all loses dignity as Gabriel gets more and more hysterical, but it still manages to be quite riveting in a lurid way, as we watch him get more and more pissed off with the sinners the tension ratchets up considerably, as we wonder what he's going to do. When he finally does snap, it's the film's most ludicrous moment, but the script and, particularly, the cast mean even in its worst moments Middletown is a striking and compulsive film, even if it's also a bit self-important.

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