Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) have been lifelong friends in The Banshees of Inisherin. When Colm ends their friendship on a whim, Pádraic refuses to back down, resulting in consequences that will impact their lives in horrifying ways. Director and writer Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) returns to Ireland with his third film set in the Aran Islands, though Inisherin itself is fictional. Inisherin premiered earlier this month at Venice Film Festival, and took the Volpi Cup for Best Actor (Farrell), and the Golden Osella for Best Screenplay (McDonagh).
The Banshees of Inisherin
Martin McDonagh (director and writer), Ben Davis (cinematography), Mikkel E.G. Nielsen (editor)
Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan (cast)
September 12, 2022 (TIFF)
Content warning for the film: self-harm, child sexual abuse, animal death
I can’t say I knew much about The Banshees of Inisherin going in. But I had heard the film was getting some pretty rave reviews so I thought to check it out at TIFF 2022 for WWAC.
Set in the 1920s on the fictional Irish island of Inisherin, the film starts off hilariously strong. Pádraic is a simple man who’s effortlessly nice. He just can’t understand why his only friend, Colm, has stopped talking to him. Pádraic’s sister, Siobhán (Kerry Condon), also wonders whether Colm no longer likes Pádraic. Others have their theories. The island is small and since everyone knows that Pádraic and Colm are always together, people start to question whether the men have had a row. At first, Pádraic is certain they haven’t but then he isn’t sure. Which makes for very amusing dialogue.
The banter between Pádraic and Colm is hilarious. Pádraic can talk on a single subject matter for hours but Colm has loftier aims for his conversations. It’s a surprise these two have been friends this long but with so few people around, they likely had no choice.
Even when Pádraic or Siobhán are chatting with other members of the village, the dialogue is usually hilarious. Much of the first half of The Banshees of Inisherin was drowned out by loud laughter from the packed audience. I do wish there had been subtitles though, not just to combat the laughter, but also because some of the accents were a bit thick and I wasn’t able to understand what they were saying.
But then things take a sinister turn. In an effort to rid himself of Pádraic once and for all, Colm gives his erstwhile friend a gruesome ultimatum. Does Pádraic dare call Colm’s bluff?
The ultimatum was the beginning of the end of my enjoyment of The Banshees of Inisherin. Till then, it was positively hilarious. But once Colm makes the ultimatum, the film takes on a darker tone that keeps getting bleaker and more tense. While there are still a few humorous moments after that point, the jokes don’t land the same way.
I don’t think it helps that there are a couple of presumably neurodivergent characters, such as Barry Keoghan’s Dominic, that aren’t handled very well. Dominic is a bit of a joke in the village and there isn’t enough care given to his safety. I’m sure this was normal for the time period but it was still a bit jarring how flippant everyone was about Dominic’s home situation.
There’s also the matter of the Irish civil war on the mainland that forms a backdrop to the happenings on Inisherin. I wonder if this calamitous event could have been brought into the story a bit more to highlight the civil war on the island.
In the acting department, the cast hits it out of the park. Farrell is superb in his dialogue delivery. I haven’t seen him do comedy before but he’s so perfect with his comic timing. And he plays it straight-faced, not like he’s waiting for a laugh, which adds to the humour! And his verbal chemistry with Brendan Gleeson leads to some spectacular scenes that had me guffawing.
Gleeson is incredibly stoic as Colm. The character is stronger for it—this is a man determined to change his life and he won’t let his friend get in the way. But is this Gleeson’s best work or just Gleeson being Gleeson? I feel like he never really transcends his off-screen persona.
Keoghan is good and his mannerisms and expressions as Dominic seem fairly natural but I’m not sure why in 2022 we’re casting neurotypical actors in neurodivergent roles. And finally, Condon holds her own in the humour department and manages to add some emotional heft to her character.
When a film is shot in Ireland, you’re expecting it to look good and that is definitely true for The Banshees of Inisherin. It is gorgeous. The sea, the mountains in the distance, the vast grassy fields. What a delight this film was to look at!
I really loved the first half of The Banshees of Inisherin and I’m a bit disgruntled at the abrupt change partway through. The film became so gruesome and graphic; the writing could have taken the story in a completely different direction while still maintaining the divide between the friends. There are very specific things I don’t like watching and unfortunately this film included a couple of those elements. Despite some fantastic, hilarious performances, The Banshees of Inisherin loses its grip and my interest with its tonal shift.
I think you may have missed the larger themes.