There are a lot of elements at play in John Michael McDonagh’s new film, Calvary, that don’t immediately suggest comic potential: The film revolves around an Irish priest (Brendan Gleeson) grappling with a death threat from one of his parishioners, and as he communes with his flock to figure out which one of them has marked him for death, he peers into lives marked by prostitution, abuse, and suicide. And yet, as you’ll see in this exclusive clip from the film (featuring Chris O’Dowd as a parishioner discussing his unfaithful wife), McDonagh has a knack for finding the unexpected laugh in his dark material, as he did in his 2011 directorial debut, The Guard. Press “play” and take a look at the film that Variety praised as “masterful” when it debuted at Sundance last January; Calvary opens in limited release August 1.
