'Five Minutes of Heaven' is 90 minutes of tour-de-force acting

Two marvelous performances from two Irish actors turn Oliver Hirschbiegel's "Five Minutes of Heaven" into a tour de force. James Nesbitt is Joe, who as an 11-year-old watched his Protestant brother being shot by a Catholic teen in 1975 Northern Ireland. Thirty years later, he is headed to the set of a television reality show, where he will be reunited for the first time with that shooter, Alistair, played by Liam Neeson.

Hirschbiegel ("Downfall," "Das Experiment") keeps the movie so quiet that we hear the men's breathing, letting the actors create the sometimes-unbearable tension. Nesbitt's Joe is a haunted man, so tormented by the memory that he has a physical reaction to it, cringing and clenching as he remembers. He jokes awkwardly with the TV show's staff, but can't seem to connect with them; this man has for decades been living in the past. He knows he wants revenge — "my five minutes of heaven" — but isn't sure he can go through with it.

Neeson's Alistair moves to an entirely different rhythm; though still haunted, he's been convicted, served his time, repented, made peace. He speaks smoothly, in contrast to Joe's jitters. Though mildly disgusted by the TV show, he welcomes the chance to meet Joe and presents a calm, polished exterior — though when he extends a hand, we see it shaking.

Based on a true story, "Five Minutes of Heaven" is as suspenseful as any thriller, yet it's ultimately a beautifully measured character study. And there's some sly humor in the depiction of the television show: Joe, filmed descending the stairs on his way to meet Alistair for the first time (they are kept separate until the cameras roll), seems to be walking toward the gallows; the world slips away and we hear only his tortured breathing. And then, a cameraman stumbles and a director asks, can we do it again? It's reality television — which is to say, not reality at all.

Moira Macdonald:

206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com