Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Cal (1984)

Director: Pat O'Connor

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Too sensitive for the abattoir where his father works and with no stomach for the IRA driving jobs he is pressured into, Cal tries to dodge the Protestant gangs that roam his predominantly Loyalist estates and yearns after the local librarian. That he should have driven the car carrying the gunman who killed her husband, entails a familiar pattern of love laced with guilt and doomed to founder in the great divide. Bernard MacLaverty's fine script keeps the action batting along and the focus narrow, concentrating on the human tragedy rather than plugging any partisan line. The symbolism is thrashed just a little hard at times, but on the whole it's a most impressive debut from O'Connor, strongly acted all round.

Author: JP

Time Out Film Guide


What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Do overs!

Do overs!

After Race to Witch Mountain, what should Disney remake next?

Gray's anatomy

James Gray wants to push buttons—again.

The next big thing?

Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.

Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema

So you think you can dance, comrade?

Puppet master

Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.

Socratic method

Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.

Wander woman

Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.

Oscars

Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.