Abrahamson Sacks Turin

Like Hannibal, Abrahamson's Garage has taken a while to get to Italy, pillaging the French villes of Chatenay-Malabry, Monte Carlo and Cinnesonne in its wake.

Last Saturday, his movie took Best Film at the 25th Turin Film Festival with a prize of €25,000. Will Abrahamson take his army north and face the Goths camped outside the Berlin Film Festival in February next year? Who's betting he won't? Behind that steely gaze, there's a hunger in his eyes - look. They will find tough opposition, though, as Anton's Commander-in-chief Graham Cantwell has his eyes on that prize.

A Barrage Of Awards For Garage

What a difference a weekend makes – 48 little hours. It was four times a charm for Lenny Abrahamson et al as Garage scooped four awards last weekend. Garage picked up the Jury Award in Festival de Chatenay-Malabry and at the Festival Cinessonne, it took the Gran Prix award and the Prix De Etudiants. Bloody students – no good for nothin’ no how. They can’t even speak English good. Meanwhile, down at Monte Carlo, Pat Shortt (right) ran away (not very quickly, mind) with Best Actor. We've included link to the various websites, but they seem to be in some foreign language. We’re delighted for all involved and believe that Garage will go on to do better things.

Ger outta dat garage, Mrs. O'Halloran's son!

Comedy actors playing it straight is nothing new (Robin Williams has been getting away with it for years), but the difference between Shortt's performance as the simple-minded Josie, in Mark O'Halloran and Lenny Abrahamson's follow up to Adam And Paul, Garage, and his peers is that he doesn't bring attention to it. Josie runs a garage in an unnamed village somewhere in Co. Tipperary, and seems happy with his lot; the abuse handed out by Don Wycherley's frustrated drunk and the gentle spurns from Anne-Marie Duff's shopkeeper roll right off his back. It's only when Josie innocently shows a porno to teenage garage employee David (Conor Ryan) that things begin to unravel. We've come to expect dourness from the pages of an O'Halloran script - his TV outing Prosperity isn't exactly an Ibizian sunrise either - and sparse, stilted dialouge is the order of the day here again. Garage is fine, but O'Halloran and Abrahamson are treading water here, and we at TToH believe the team can do a whole lot better if they just unleash the dogs.