“Parked” is a story of two men trying to make the most of their lives on the fringes of society. What they actually end up accomplishing is a friendship that both men can feed on until it is time for their circumstances to change. At first glance, “Parked” seems to be a social commentary on the welfare structure in Ireland. A further look into the characters, however, reveals something a bit more humane at the heart of the film.
Fred (Colin Meaney) is back in his home country. Being unemployed, he seeks some help in getting a place to live. Fred immediately meets up with so many bureaucratic barriers that the only option left is to sleep in his car. Fred begins to park in a seaside parking lot, which eventually becomes a kind of home for the man, while he tries to work out his situation. Homelessness is new to Fred. He doesn’t know the ins and outs of the system. Fred couldn’t begin to work the tricks required to stay healthy and alive while living in the street. That’s where his “neighbor” Cathal (Colin Morgan) comes in.
Cathal is a young man with a story of his own. His life has been taken over by drug abuse so vicious that Cathal’s family put him out on the street. The young man now lives in his car, across the parking lot from Fred. Cathal is no stranger to street living. He teaches Fred how to get around the rules of the Irish welfare system and also shows the man several little tricks to surviving homelessness. One of those tricks is bathing at the local public pool. Cathal’s charity to Fred is rewarded in Fred’s paternal friendship with the young man.
Fred meets a young woman named Juliana (Mika Ahlroth) at the pool who makes him want to better himself. He refuses to reveal his homelessness to Juliana but does everything in his power to be near the woman, including joining a women’s aquatic class. While Fred’s life is looking up just a little, Cathal is facing the consequences of drug abuse and other ills. He is still shooting up drugs but tells Fred otherwise. Cathal is dodging his debts in the form of drug dealers who gave him product on credit. At one pivotal point in the film, Fred helps save Cathal from a brutal beating. Later, however, their friendship takes a hit after Fred witnesses Cathal using drugs. Their relationship heads to a violent turn that changes Fred for the better, but Cathal is left uncertain.
The powerful drama illustrates that humanity and intricate relationships can exist where there are complex people with complex problems. Fred has a ton of complexities to spare, so does Cathal. While this fictional tale speaks volumes about the ills of homelessness and the difficulties that homeless people face getting housing and assistance, it tells an even stronger story of finding friendship and resourcefulness in the unsuspecting places.
Screenwriter Ciaran Creagh developed “Parked,” which mirrors a down-and-out version of “The Odd Couple.” Fred is fifty-one years old, and Cathal is twenty-one. Fred is organized and neat, and he tries to hide his homelessness at all costs. Cathal is sloppy and a drug addict who stops at nothing to take advantage of his family. When director Darragh Byrne places this tale on screen, he emphasizes those differences and how they can work if both parties are willing. An example is Cathal teaching Fred how to scam a bath at the public pool. Byrne uses very few locations and settings, leaving the focus almost entirely on the actors and making the beautiful backdrop seem a bit mundane after a while.
Byrne artfully uses his camera and his surroundings to capture every nuance of Fred’s new lifestyle, from the gritty side street, where Cathal feeds his habit, to the more popular locations that make to desensitize the audience to the pretty scenes in order to add more concentration to Fred and Cathal’s plight. Although “Parked” is often a sad tale of love and loss, it can be seen as the prequel to Fred’s tale of redemption.
Bryne and Creagh place a lot on Colm Meaney’s shoulders when creating the film. The man must carry such a sad movie through worsening conditions. The positivity in much of the movie is embodied in happy-go-lucky pothead Cathal. The budding romance with Juliana is also enough to make the man want to reach up from his situation. In the end, “Parked” audiences will find it easy to root for this new underdog named Fred.
