Garage review

Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Small-town simpleton Josie (Pat Shortt) is too good-natured to realise he’s a figure of fun in the rundown Irish backwater he calls home. Paid a pittance to run the eponymous petrol station on behalf of its absent owner, he’s delighted when he’s assigned a 15-year-old apprentice (Conor Ryan) he can sit and watch the traffic with. But Josie’s joy soon turns to misery when a friendly gesture is misinterpreted...

Written and directed by Lenny Abrahamson, this rueful tale mirrors the bleak inertia of his 2005 debut feature Adam & Paul without calling up that film’s grim squalor. The result is sad, sombre and darkly comic, largely due to Shortt’s well-judged lead performance and farcical vignettes that wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of Father Ted. Even at a meagre 84 minutes, though, you’ll be checking your watch.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.