Reviewer David Leninhawk returns with a look at The Banshees of Inisherin, nominated for nine Academy Awards.
Inisherin is a fictional island off the coast of mainland Ireland, and the film takes place there in the early 1920s during the time of the Irish Civil War. I don’t think it’s a stretch to think this film is commenting on that Civil War, or to a larger extent a wider array of conflicts for which the writer/director thinks are probably blown our of proportion through escalating tensions that could have and should have been solved through better means, but instead lead to bitter and entrenched blood feuds. I also gather the message of putting too much emphasis on the future and how you’ll be remembered or the long term effects of your actions at the detriment of how you live your life in the present is not the proper thing to do. After all, what good is a positive legacy is you’re not around to enjoy it, and you’re only causing yourself and everyone around you misery in the present that you are experiencing.
The plot here is at first straight forward. On a small island where everyone knows everyone, a fiddle player named Colm (Brendan Gleeson) decides that, as he gets older, he’s wasting to much of his life talking to his friend Pádraic (Colin Farrell), who is very nice but also very dull and not particularly smart or interesting. As a new month begins, Colm decides he doesn’t want to be friends with Pádraic anymore, and avoids him and gives him the silent treatment, though eventually provides him an explanation for the cold shoulder. Pádraic does not understand how people can go from being friends one day to not friends the next, and in an innocent and naïve way continues to try and salvage the friendship. Colm becomes increasingly frustrated, and resorts to drastic and dark measures to get Pádraic to leave him alone.
The film is very funny. I saw this in a theater with I think only three other people attending, but I didn’t let that stop me form laughing heartily and often. I was the only one laughing, but I laughed and enjoyed myself a bit. On top of being funny, it does get very melancholy at times, and proceeds into some dark territory as it goes on, though it feels tonally consistent even as it traverses areas silly, saddening, and violent. Both parties have valid points of view. Colm has every right to terminate a friendship he takes no joy in, but Pádraic is a good and kind-hearted man who simply doesn’t understand how a friendship can end if he didn’t do anything wrong, and just wants to hold on to his best friend and the routine of a daily pub visit and chats that they have had for what seems to be an extended period of time. This is a small dispute that really should be resolved with compromise or better communication, but instead spirals into escalating tensions from which there are no points of return, and the film seems to be drawing a connection between this microcosm and larger conflicts in history and politics. This isn’t overtly a political or message movie, but the content is there for anyone who wishes to unpack it.
On top of our two leads, we get a very fine supporting performance from Kerry Condon as Pádraic’s sister Siobhán, who is probably the smartest person on the island and, as such, wants nothing more than to leave its people and their petty grievances behind to a bigger and more fulfilling world. Barry Keoghan also stands out in the role as a young man who is something of a troublemaker on the island, but largely because his asshole dad, who is the only cop on the island, beats him and possibly sexually abuses him (even THIS film says ACAB, and I’m here for it). Like any film about a small community there are many colorful supporting characters strewn about, but the focus always remains on our two leads, and Farrell is particularly good at playing a character who is sweet and simple and heartbroken over the loss of his friend and his safe, predictable life.
So yes, the film is at times exceptionally funny, and also deeper than it seems at first glance. When it gets darker and sadder, it’s surprisingly moving in some ways, and by the end I was pleased with how well this vision was realized given how peculiar this film can seem when viewed from afar. I suppose it could have gone sillier or darker, but the ultimate lane this film chooses is probably just right for what it’s trying to convey. It’s kind of unique in its own way, and I suspect a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination is heading its way, even if the film gets shut out of every other category. I had a damn fine time watching it, though, and I think most of you will too.
Guest writer David Leninhawk sees a LOT of movies. Check out Letterboxd for more reviews.