First of all, why these guys had to sit together or sat so close? There were so many empty seats, why they had to sit facing each other or sat nearby to each other. Two revolvers shot repeatedly, every revolver is a six shooter, six bullets, the crazy young guy should have already emptied both, yet the one that guy picked up later still got two bullets left, give me a break. This is a crazy short film, well acted but not worth high ratings from all the reviewers before me.

I wanted to see this film because another movie directed and written by Martin McDonagh, In Bruges. That was one of those rare films that I rate highest and therefore I had to see this one.Maybe it's the high expectations, but it felt a bit boring to me. This guy loses his wife to some sickness, boards a train, all depressed, and has one of the most possible annoying days. The tension is palpable, all actors play really well and the ending is both a bit predictable as an idea, but surprising as the emotion it produces. Kind of like expecting to be treated with candy, but getting surprised by the taste of it.All in all a short film I can't rate. It has everything, but also nothing. For me, it stays in limbo, leaving me undecided.

Morose middle-aged Donnelly (a typically terrific performance by the always great Brendan Gleeson) takes a long and grueling train ride home following the tragic sudden death of his wife. Donnelly encounters both a young couple whose baby has just passed away and a brash, rowdy, irrepressibly snotty punk kid (splendidly played with deliciously malicious glee and gusto by Ruaidhri Conroy) who antagonizes his fellow hapless passengers with his incessant coarse language and blithely rude, callous and offensive behavior. Writer/director Martin McDonagh, an acclaimed Irish playwright, deftly mines a fresh, startling and often uproariously twisted line in black-as-coal gallows humor in this offbeat and inspired meditation on death, grief and loss. This is hardcore merrily macabre black humor that's as dark as the best chocolate and every bit as tasty (the exploding cow gag is especially gut-busting!). Moreover, the performances are across-the-board fantastic (Conroy in particular is simply amazing), the photography of the lush Irish countryside is breathtakingly beautiful, and the story offers a wondrous wealth of delightfully warped and shocking surprises. Overall, this stupendous Oscar-winning short film qualifies as 30 sublimely nasty and frequently flat-out sidesplitting minutes worth of pure black comedy gold.

McDonagh is a brilliant story teller and fully deserves his Tony nominations and his Olivier Award for Best Play (The Pillowman). His critics have questioned his use of casual cruelty as a dramatic device, although he always grounds violence in a social context or connects sadism to particular characters' proclivities. This film is beautifully acted by Brendon Gleeson and especially Rúaidhrí Conroy, sharply photographed, and well directed by McDonagh himself. For technique alone it is Oscar-worthy. But the whole piece strikes me as an absurdist joke with insufficient resonance. This is a mélange of destructions, an indulgence in violence that reduces and parodies McDonagh's better scripts.