The Banshees of Inisherin, 2022.
Directed by Martin McDonagh.
Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, and Barry Keoghan.
SYNOPSIS:
Martin McDonagh’s latest movie, The Banshees of Inisherin, reunites Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson from his 2008 directorial debut, In Bruges. This time, they play a pair of friends on a dreary Irish island in 1923 who have had a falling out, much to the consternation of one of them. Dark humor abounds, as do some drastic actions on the part of both men.
If it’s possible to represent the totality of the Irish experience — at least the one that’s been portrayed throughout history — in a movie, The Banshees of Inisherin may be the winner in that department.
Set on the fictional island Inisherin in 1923, as the Irish Civil War raging on the mainland begins winding down, the film stars Colin Farrell as Pádraic Súilleabháin and Brendan Gleeson as Colm Doherty. The men had been friends for a long time, but as the story opens, Colm has decided he doesn’t want anything to do with Pádraic anymore, much to the other man’s dismay.
Pádraic lives with his sister, Siobhán (Kerry Condon), who’s much smarter than him; she tries to steer him away from his obsession with trying to understand why Colm has moved on. Colm, a fiddler who writes his own songs, simply says that he doesn’t want to waste time with Pádraic anymore, given his propensity for discussing such topics as “things I found in my pony’s shite.”
In addition to teaching the fiddle to some fledgling musicians, Colm also begins chatting with local policeman Peadar Kearney (Gary Lydon), who’s not afraid to use his fists to establish peace and order, including, unfortunately, with his own son. Pádraic continues to push Colm, including a drunken tirade in the pub one night, and Colm takes drastic steps to try to get Pádraic to stop bothering him.
I won’t spoil Colm’s tactic here, but I will say that the most interesting use of self-punishment as a way to punish someone else that I’ve ever seen. And I suppose it fits a dreary little Irish island whose small population is simply trying to survive not only life but also dealing with each other.
In the end, The Banshees of Inisherin could have been simply a depressing movie, but Colin Farrell’s performance elevates director and writer Martin McDonagh’s surgical use of black humor. It’s easy to feel some sympathy for Pádraic, who’s in a position many of us have likely been in before: Why does any good relationship suddenly make a turn for the worse, leaving both participants alienated from each other? It’s not really clear why Colm wants to take a scorched earth approach, aside from his admission that he’s dealing with depression. (He doesn’t use that word to describe it, but it seemed obvious to me that that was what he was talking about.)
The film was provided to me for review in a digital copy that includes a smattering of bonus features, all but one of which are also available with the film on Blu-ray. Here’s what you’ll find:
• Shooting with Animals for The Banshees of Inisherin (1 minute): I believe this one is digital-only. It focuses on Pádraic’s miniature donkey Jenny, who he lets in the house, much to the frustration of Siobhán.
• Creating The Banshees of Inisherin (18 minutes): This is a pretty standard making-of featurette that takes a look at the film’s development and production. I’m sure more could have been said about the movie, but given its lackluster box office performance, I can only assume the studio didn’t feel the need to put a lot of resources behind its home video release.
• Deleted scenes (5 minutes): None of these bits really cry out for being put back into the film, but they comprise some nice moments, and this is a film that’s all about spending time in the moment.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
Originally published December 22, 2022. Updated April 22, 2024.
