The Banshees of Inisherin: Movie Review (No Spoilers)

 By Michael Momper

"You're the nice guy! And that's a fine thing to be!"

Banshees of Inisherin is the latest movie to be both written and directed by much-acclaimed filmmker Martin Mcdonagh. If you haven't seen any of his work, it is well worth checking out- he has had a tremendous working relationship with Colin Farrell for most of his career, and has created some absolutely incredible laugh-out-loud dramas in the past couple decades, many of which have fared very well at the Oscars. Though his 2017 drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri took home the most Oscar hardware, his films In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths are arguably even better, and are among my favorite films. Mcdonagh is a master of dialogue, blending gut-busting insults, witticisms and jokes with tense confrontation deftly and seamlessly. He is a master of world-building and character development.

Mcdonagh's films are imbued with scenery and mysticism from his homeland of Ireland, rich with fantasy and with Catholic imagery. Banshees of Inisherin is no exception. It is a comedy-drama that takes place on an Irish island in the 1920s, but it is so timeless that it feels like the type of myth or fable that could take place anywhere at anytime. Like any well-written drama, it has a lot to say. It speaks of friendship, the fleeting nature of time, and profoundly touches on insecurity. The movie is mystical, whimsical, and melancholic more than anything. If the sadness and emotion of a movie really gets to you and hurts your film experience, steer clear of this one.

Collin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, previously paired in Mcdonagh's In Bruges, play the two leads, Padraic and Colm, who are some friends that have fallen out of favor. Colm is ready to move on from the friendship, while the friendship is one of the brightest spots in Padraic's life, and the conflict that their falling out has wrought devastates him. Male friendships are a unique thing, and this film has a lot to say about them.

Insecurity gets in the way of authentic relationship, and we see this in Padraic early on. But more importantly than that is the sad fact of life that some people in radically different headspaces or points in their lives will just have a hard time relating to each other. Colm has a strong sense of how fleeting his time on Earth is, and long meaningless trips to the Pub just don't interest him anymore. Padraic is more content to spend his free time drifting around, and so the companionship of others means so much to him. This is a classic unstoppable force against an immovable object. The two are headed toward conflict it seems, and the viewer never knows how it's going to play out. The dramatic tension is so palpable. The collision course is drawn out before us, and we anxiously await these characters' next moves with a pounding heart and a sinking feeling in our stomachs.

Simply put, I'd say this is the movie of the year for me so far. The dialogue is so rich with character, and so funny. All of the actors do an excellent job and put so much humanity into these characters. The world that Mcdonagh creates, especially with the grey and green visuals of the Irish countryside, feels so mythical but also deeply human. There are touches of divinity throughout, with carefully placed Catholic imagery and a deep concern for morality. A careful exploration of insecurity lends itself to questions throughout, asking us to probe deeper on whether we treat people with kindness despite how uninteresting they might be to us.

Rating: 10/10