Movie Info
Movie Name: The Banshees of Inisherin
Studio: Blueprint Pictures/Searchlight Pictures/Film 4
Genre(s): Comedy/Drama
Release Date(s): September 5, 2022 (Venice Film Festival)/October 21, 2022 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
“Won’t you be my friend?!?!?!”
On the small island of Inisherin in 1923, the people live outside the civil war raging on the mainland of Ireland. Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) lives with his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and spends his time drinking everyday with his best friend Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson)…until something happens. Colm decides he doesn’t want to be friends and won’t explain why. With his life suddenly thrown into turmoil, there is an escalating war on Inisherin, and there will be no winners or losers.
Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of the Inisherin is a comedy-drama. The movie premiered at Venice International Film Festival and received positive reviews. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Colin Farrell), Best Supporting Actor (Barry Keoghan, Brendan Gleeson), Best Supporting Actress (Kerry Condon), Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Screenplay.
I liked In Bruges despite at the time not being much of a fan of Colin Farrell. As I’ve soften to Farrell as he’s gotten a bit more mature and less of a wild man off camera, it was nice to visit a reteaming of Farrell, Gleeson, and McDonagh.
This scene is tragic
The movie is a comedy, but the blackest of comedies about friendship, war, and loss in a not very subtle parallel to the Irish Civil War occurring on the mainland. Both Pádraic and Colm share a bond because they are forced to share a small island, and through the island and families, there is a friendship that doesn’t have a choice. When Colm calls off the friendship because he arbitrarily wants to be remembered instead of wasting his time with Pádraic, a war erupts. It shows the foolishness of the war and the battle between the two people that have so much in common only leads to death which is unnecessary…Pádraic can’t give up on Colm and Colm is willing to sacrifice his music and his “remembrance” to break the friendship.
The cast is good and all the actors really command the scene. You have Colin Farrell who is rather simple and Brendan Gleeson who is the deeper thinker…but both act irrationally. Farrell’s character can’t leave well enough alone, and Gleeson’s character acts as a crazy man as a result. The others caught in the web include Kerry Condon who has finally decided to defect to join the mainland living, and Barry Keoghan who also suffers from rejection. It is a series of depression and destruction.
So…truce?
The movie makes you want to travel to Ireland. The green fields and multiple ancient walls show how divided it is. While Inisherin isn’t a real place, the film makes it feel real, and its inhabitants likewise feel real.
The Banshees of the Inisherin isn’t one of those comedies that you spend time laughing out loud to, but you do see a wryness to the script that isn’t present in a lot of comedies. It is a comedy of absurdity and it is done well. While everyone is quirky, it doesn’t get overdone (which is easy in movies like these)…instead you get a nice story of people having to learn to share even if they don’t want to.
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