Directed By Martin McDonagh

Starring – Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon

The Plot – Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, the film follows lifelong friends Padraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. A stunned Padraic, aided by his sister Siobhan (Condon) and troubled young islander Dominic (Barry Keoghan), endeavors to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer. But Padraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.

Rated R for adult language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN | Official Trailer | Searchlight Pictures – YouTube

POSITIVES

No director rides tonal shifts as smoothly or cohesively as McDonagh, whose latest is a black comedy with enough elements of both to make for an endearing watch, but one that effectively registers without compromising one genre hybrid over the other. This is a film that is not only very funny in the caustic familiarity of McDonagh’s personality admonishing an abundance of awkwardly audacious scenarios, but also one that is incredibly heartbreaking while unraveling the falling out between two longtime best friends whose lives feel incomplete without the balance that each of them brings to one another. Because of such, the writing is fantastic, fleshing out many uniquely endearing characters with razor sharp rhythm in dialogue, both leading and supporting, to keep the momentum intriguing throughout, even when the duo of leads don’t share the screen together, as well as the captivity of a period piece of 1923 taps into a vital time for Ireland while engulfed in a civil war of its own, which intendedly echoes the movements and stakes of the newfound rivalry at the movie’s forefront. In addition to this, the many thematic impulses channel many deep and thought-provoking avenues of exploration in the deterioration of this once prosperous bond, articulating the ball of momentum that continuously rolls downhill as a result of the pride between them that ultimately and unfortunately defines them. This disconnect is also reflected seamlessly in the many breathtaking elements of production and technique, which all but solidify what I feel is McDonagh’s most ambitious direction to date. It’s a bit ironic that so many of the technical elements are ambitious in execution when the simplicity of the story is perhaps its single most charming aspect, but everything from the breathtaking Irish scenery in scope from Ben Davis, to the haunting score from Carter Burwell, to even the setting itself conjured emphasis in the depth of the plot’s particular framing device, harvesting the isolation factor and dread of loneliness in ways that resonate without feeling heavy-handed to an audience who might not accurately interpret matters as intended. This gives Ireland an intimacy among its people, especially in the ever-growing secrets that everyone seems to know with claustrophobic chatter, but equally an immensity between Padraic and Colm’s dire situation, which paints them at planets apart at times between the cold and clammy color consistencies of Davis aforementioned visual triumphs. Last but not least, McDonagh has once again constructed an extensive ensemble that will undoubtedly warrant Oscar consideration, and a stage that offers each of them moments to candidly shine while bringing something vastly unique to the air of their respective characters. Barry Keoghan pops in from time to time to steal a laugh with the neuroses he has made a career with in emulating these stranger than life characters, and Kerry Condon damn near steals the show as Padraic’s sister, acting as the voice of reason between he and Colm, but equally one who is not afraid to set them both straight with a bluntness to delivery that proves her assertive force. This is then enhanced with the work of Gleeson and Farrell, with the former battling through an internal restlessness that accentuates and appeals his gruff exterior, and the latter taking the honors with a turn accentuated by all the nuances that Colin supplants to an otherwise simple-minded man, but never in ways that feel insulting to the integrity of the character. Because of such, the dynamic between them feels ripe with believability in ways that completely transcend what we weren’t able to experience and live through with each of the characters before the film started rolling, and with picture perfect chemistry this palpable and compelling, we’re never able to take our eyes off of either of them the longer the film persists or the plot grows complex with the actions of each of them too consequential to easily be forgiven, leading to a resolution that might not be the one that the audience desires, but one appropriate for the distance traveled in the evolutions of the characters that feel miles from where their friendship initially once bloomed.

NEGATIVES

As to where many of the elements of production and performances resonated appeal in ways the consistently raised the bar of expectations the longer the film went, a couple of small details and momentary hinderances glossed over in between left slightly more to be desired, and ultimately kept this from reaching my second perfect score in a film in just under a week. The biggest problem of them all is easily in the reason for the conflict, which feels hinted at, but never fully articulated in ways that I felt justified the magnitude of the indifference between their respective characters. I can understand the intention alluding to the pivotal aspects of our lives that people often take for granted, but for my money it’s simply not enough to immediately engage me in the understanding of how this materialized in the first place, in turn wasting away an opportunity to spend more time with Gleeson’s Colm in ways that could’ve painted a greater balance in time deposits between them. In addition to this, my only other problem is a technical one, in that during a key scene involving flames, the artificiality of its computer-generated properties completely stole my attention, and not in ways that appeal to believability in the depiction. Because so much of the aforementioned production values dazzle with big screen appeal, the flatness in execution here is momentarily a bit jarring, removing a little too much momentum for what can easily be argued as the climax of the movie.

OVERALL
Spectacularly shot and directed, “The Banshees of Inisherin” combines a caustic sense of humor with a gut-wrenchingly bleak tale on the duality of friendship, and one that earns nearly every step of its tonal and thematic evolution along the way. Though not a story for faint at heart, based entirely on the ambiguities of the motivation and inevitably divisive ending, the film is clever, symbolic, and commanded by one of the most infectiously charming ensembles of the year serving as our tour guide for the chaotic claustrophobia of the Irish isle.

My Grade: 9/10 or A