The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) – M. McDonagh

Martin McDonagh’s Oscar nominated film comes across like a quirky short story, the kind that we point to for examples of irony or other literary forms. That is to say that the characters don’t always act in predictable ways but they might represent an exaggerated aspect of human nature, deployed to highlight or satirise ordinary traits or behaviours. Colin Farrell plays Pádraic Súilleabháin, a regular bloke on the isolated isle of Inisherin (off the western coast of Ireland) who wakes up to find that his best friend Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) no longer wants to talk to him. When he finds out that Doherty now thinks he is “too dull”, he can’t let it go.  The rest of the movie tells the story of their dispute. At times, it is blackly comic. However, there is a deep sadness here too, stemming in part from the situation that this isolated community finds itself in back in 1923 Ireland. There’s a war on the mainland but the more difficult factor is loneliness (felt most acutely by Pádraic’s spinsterish sister Siobhán, played by Kerry Condon). Although he is often annoying, young Dominic Kearney (Barry Keoghan) might be the most tragic character in the film, even if he is thought to be the village idiot. His problems might clearly be attributed to the problems of isolated communities but McDonagh (a playwright who also wrote the screenplay) clearly has a bigger target in mind: the wayward and obstinate decisions we humans make when we think about ourselves rather than others. Cinematically, the film is all rocky cliffs topped with lush green fields above beautiful lakes or oceans. The period setting and costumes are beautifully observed. All four principals were deservingly nominated for academy awards, as was the director and screenplay. Recommended.