Six Shooter
2004 · 27m · UK
Directed by Martin McDonagh
Genres: crime, dark comedy, drama
Tones: absurdist, dark, darkly comic
A grieving man named Donnelly, having just lost his wife, boards a train home and ends up sharing a carriage with a foul-mouthed, agitated young stranger known only as 'the Kid'. As the journey wears on, the encounter twists into something darkly absurd and violent.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
McDonagh's already working the subversive angle here—grief meets chaos on a train, decorum evaporates, and the thing that should be a somber journey becomes a pressure cooker of profane absurdity—but it's almost *too* assured, too aware of its own provocations; feels more like a proof of concept than genuine heresy.
This is a formal masterclass in compression: McDonagh inherits the tradition of chamber drama and claustrophobic narrative (Beckett, early Pinter) while establishing the tonal DNA that would define his feature voice, and the precision of the editing—when to cut, when to let the grotesque linger—reveals a director already thinking in frames, not just scenes.
The genius move is casting Brendan Gleeson opposite Rúaidhrí Conroy's twitchy, agitated Kid and letting their dynamic do the heavy lifting; one performance is grief-numbed stillness, the other is barely-contained electricity, and that contrast—not the violence, not the dark humor—is what makes the whole thing hum.
Reviews
As full-bodied and vivacious as a full-length feature film, remarkably managing to tell a tale that perfectly balances the uproarious with the profoundly poignant.
McDonagh's hallmarks are already in place — his penchant for dry dark humour, idiosyncratic conversations and the contrast between mundane and extreme. Beautiful acting by Brendan Gleeson and especially Rúaidhrí Conroy.
Festivals
- Academy Awards 2006, Best Live Action Short Film (Winner)