I related personally to this film. I have behaved like Colm, turning away friends when I felt I had to. Basically, as I saw it, Colm is an artist, a thinker, a creative. Padraic is not. Padraic is an ordinary guy, known for how nice he is. He also is an innocent in many ways, but as the film progresses, we see how people can change and adapt to whom and what impacts upon them.
As Colm has an existential crisis, wanting to be more creative and add meaning to his somewhat drab existence as he ages, he decides that hanging out with his good friend Padraic is a waste of time. But Padraic surprises everyone by how persistent he is. In fact, his persistence show how both innocent and how marginally intelligent he is. Even after Colm threatens to harm himself if Padraic doesn't back off, Padraic keeps on.
The only problem I had with the characters and their actions are that they were a tad unrealistic. The film went from realism to metaphoric, i.e., about the last third of it involved actions made by the main characters just to move the plot along. Colm chopping off his fingers and then Padraic not only changing himself but drastically so in order to do what he does by the end of the film was hard to believe within the context of the earlier parts of the film.
That said, it was still an excellent film. The acting and the script were great, notwithstanding what I said above. It's a movie that gets you to think and even has a few humorous moments.
As Colm has an existential crisis, wanting to be more creative and add meaning to his somewhat drab existence as he ages, he decides that hanging out with his good friend Padraic is a waste of time. But Padraic surprises everyone by how persistent he is. In fact, his persistence show how both innocent and how marginally intelligent he is. Even after Colm threatens to harm himself if Padraic doesn't back off, Padraic keeps on.
The only problem I had with the characters and their actions are that they were a tad unrealistic. The film went from realism to metaphoric, i.e., about the last third of it involved actions made by the main characters just to move the plot along. Colm chopping off his fingers and then Padraic not only changing himself but drastically so in order to do what he does by the end of the film was hard to believe within the context of the earlier parts of the film.
That said, it was still an excellent film. The acting and the script were great, notwithstanding what I said above. It's a movie that gets you to think and even has a few humorous moments.