Worth: $19.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan, Kerry Condon
Intro:
... simply one of the finest features of the year.
On a small (and fictious) island on Galway Bay, everyone knows everyone, and the smallest of incidents can flourish into full-blown tragedies. It’s 1923 and the Irish Civil War is raging on the mainland, a war that most of the inhabitants of Inisherin barely understand and seemingly care little about. Flashes of light reach the island, but the most that is said is “I wish we were just all still fighting the English.”
Yet a civil war is brewing on Inisherin, and the cause seems equally unfathomable to the inhabitants. Two friends are no longer friends and what appears to be a minor issue will spiral into something very dark.
Writer/director Martin McDonagh reunites his In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as the erstwhile friends. Pádraic Súllebháin (Farrell) and Colm Doherty (Gleeson) used to meet every day at the local inn for a pint at 2pm. One day, Pádraic knocks on Colm’s door and is roundly ignored. Pádraic goes home to complain to his sister Siobhan (a scene stealing Kerry Condon) who jokingly says, “Maybe he just don’t like you no more” – a line which foreshadows the truth; after years of putting up with well-intentioned but dim-witted conversations with Pádraic, Colm has decided he has no more time for pointless interactions and would prefer to concentrate on writing music and contemplating his legacy.
The simple milk farmer can’t grasp why Colm would decide to end the friendship. “I’m a happy lad” he tells people, and they agree, but he is also a deliberately limited man. Siobhan, a frustrated intellectual, has to contend with Pádraic asking her why she reads so many books. Pádraic’s joys come from tending to his miniature donkey Jenny and the routine of tools down at 2pm. He is incurious but innocuous. For Colm, however, he is a symbol of wasted time. Colm yearns for silence and peace so he can get on with his work, composing pieces for the fiddle. As he reveals to the local priest, he also suffers despair – something that may be keeping him on Inisherin rather than pursuing his dreams on the mainland.
McDonagh crafts the blackest of comedies. Pádraic’s confusion is pathetic but also hilarious. Colm’s steady refusal to return to the friendship becomes darker and more threatening as he claims he will cut a finger off every time Pádraic tries to talk to him. As a fiddler, the act is a literal cutting off the nose to spite the face.
Other people on the island get involved. For the hopeless and wounded Dominic (Barry Keoghan), it is an opportunity to find his own best friend in Pádraic. The son of a brutal local policeman (Gary Lydon), Dominic’s bruised but hopeful face shows up at Pádraic’s door and despite Siobhan’s protestations, Pádraic lets him in.
Traditionally, Banshees are a symbol of death. Once the banshees wail, someone will die. The delightfully eerie Mrs McCormick (Sheila Fritton) makes the prediction that two will face death. McDonagh teases the fate for one of the characters, but he’s not wrapping up his morality tale (with no moral lesson at the end) so easily.
Colin Farrell, whose work seems to be going from strength to strength, is astounding as Pádraic. He’s hilarious, pitiful, exasperating, and oddly relatable. McDonagh poses the question: why won’t Pádraic leave Colm alone? As the tensions between the two men escalate, it seems that he must. But Farrell’s Pádraic is a symbol of deep loneliness; when Siobhan finally leaves the island, all he has is a tiny cottage and his animals. No longer a jovial companion at the pub, and facing another beating from Peader Kearney, he is a lost soul with no rich inner life to console him.
Very few actors do fed-up as well as Brendan Gleeson. His motivations as Colm seem opaquer, but as a man contemplating how little he has contributed to the world, and one that clearly aches for a more cultured life, Gleeson lets silence speak volumes. When Siobhan confronts him over his row with Pádraic, she lets him know that Pádraic isn’t the only dull man on the island. “You’re all feckin dull!” That truth is something Colm is aware of at his core. He strives for legacy, but he is a willing participant (literally) in his own self destruction.
McDonagh’s astounding film is given every advantage; from the haunting score by Carter Burwell, to the lush cinematography of Ben Davis, and most of all, to the flawless cast – there isn’t one bad performance in the lot: from the leads to the secondary characters, to the smallest parts – every actor is perfect for McDonagh’s tragicomic tone.
Marketing for the film has it appearing as a quirky comedy; and it is certainly extremely funny, especially showcasing Farrell’s innate skill. But The Banshees of Inisherin is far more than light entertainment, it is the type of tale that could live in folklore as an open-ended warning; a consummate sweet-bitter experience and is simply one of the finest features of the year.
In cinemas on general release Boxing Day, 2022
