Calvary is the latest step in film noir's long evolution

The genre has chewed up and spit out hard-boiled protagonists for decades — but the latest iteration brings its dark themes into the modern day

Calvary
(Image credit: (Facebook.com/Calvary))

A friendly-looking priest is in a confessional booth when he receives an unsettling message from the other side of the screen: "I'm going to kill you, Father."

This is the opening scene from Calvary, the new pitch-black drama from Irish writer/director John Michael McDonagh. On the surface, the film is a moral and religious reckoning for its hero — and by extension, Ireland's revered institutions. But Calvary also plays on a different level — as a classic film noir whodunit. But this time, the hero isn't a hard-boiled detective; he's a Catholic priest.

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Alan Zilberman

Alan is the film editor of Brightest Young Things and a freelance arts writer based in Washington, D.C. He has written about film for The Atlantic, RogerEbert.Com, The Washington City Paper, and IndieWire.