Ireland

Synopsis

Friends since they were small boys, Adam and Paul have withered into two, hapless, desperate junkies, tied together by habit and necessity. A stylised, downbeat physical comedy, the film follows the boys over the course of a single day, which, like every other is'entirely devoted to the business of scrounging and robbing money for drugs. The difference, today, is that Adam and Paul - already near rock bottom - have finally run out of luck, credit and friends.

Director's Statement

Imagine a typical scene from a Laurel and Hardy film. Stan and 0llie are lost, hungry and in some sort of trouble. They stand, childlike, bemused, out of touch with reality in the proscenium arch of a simple two-shot. When they speak, it's with a certain deliberate, presented quality; the lines are given space and the meaning of their actions is always crystal clear. Transpose this to Dublin in 2003, transform Laurel and Hardy into two junkies teetering on the brink of extinction, and you have some sense of the dark, but comedic style of ADAM AND PAUL. The two heroes are more than individuals they're archetypes; the scenes are not slices of real life but funny, schematic studies. There is a naive formality and uninflected blockiness in the drama and something very pure about the subtly stylized, carefully scored dialogue. All this, combined with the deliberateness with which new characters are brought onto the stage, the ritualised hellos and good-byes, and so on, give the film its unique stylistic signature.
People are so familiar with the standard, naturalistic approach to the kind of material dealt with in ADAM AND PAUL that its edge has been dulled. The real power of this film is that it allows us to slip characters like Adam and Paul under the audience's radar and creates a real possibility of empathy and pathos, without easy sentiment or standard, dramatic manipulation.

Director's Biography

Lenny Abrahamson was born in Dublin. He studied Physics followed by Philosophy at TCD where he won a foundation scholarship. He graduated in 1991 with starred first class honours.
After graduating, he directed a short film, 3 JOES, which won the Best European Short Film award at the Cork Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Galway Film Fleadh and the Organiser's Award at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival, and which has been seen on television and at festivals all over the world. After a period of post-graduate study in Philosophy at Stanford University in California he returned home. Since then he has directed commercials for television in Ireland and world-wide. Several of his commercials have won international awards. He has just directed his first feature film, Lenny Abrahamson was born in Dublin. He studied physics followed by philosophy at TCD where he won a foundation scholarship. He graduated in 1991 with starred first class honours.
After graduating, he directed a short film, '3 Joes', which won the Best European Short Film award at the Cork Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Galway Film Fleadh and the Organiser's Award at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival, and which has been seen on television and at festivals all over the world. After a period of post-graduate study in philosophy at Stanford University in California he returned home. Since then he has directed commercials for television in Ireland and worldwide. Several of his commercials have won international awards. He has just directed his first feature film, ADAM AND PAUL.
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson

Written by: Yuri Korotkov

Produced by: Jonny Speers

Cinematography: James Mather

Editing: Isobel Stephenson

Production Design: Padraig O'Neill

Costume Design: Sonya Lennon

Original Score: Stephen Rennicks

Sound Design: Tom Mclnerney

Cast: Mark O'Halloran (Adam), Alexei Chadov, Artur Smoyaninov, Konstantin Kryukov, Ivan Kokorin, Tom Murphy (Paul)

Nominations and Awards

  • European Screenwriter 2005
  • Feature Film Selection 2005