Martin McDonagh’s previous work on Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was one of the most encapsulating dramas I have seen in recent years, and impressed me thoroughly. While The Banshees of Inisherin is indeed a very good film, I would say it did not ever reach the heights of Three Billboards for me personally.
SYNOPSIS: Two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.
What drew me in to this film was the outstanding and harsh concept of a friendship abruptly ending with no resolve whatsoever. It’s a dark and inhumane occurrence that I think fits well within McDonagh’s usual choice of subject matter, and he handles it very curiously here. Brendan Gleeson’s character goes to extreme lengths to rid himself of Colin Farrell’s presence, even going so far as to threaten cutting his own fingers off.
I think the main issue I have with the film is that it deals with a whole array of subjects, but never quite sinks it’s teeth into any one of them specifically. Grief, loneliness, isolation, love, time, and even the titular role friendship plays in the film, feel slightly downplayed. The movie dips into these themes, but it never quite rounds out what it’s trying to convey before moving onto the next one. I suppose McDonagh’s intention here was to create a sort of nihilistic slice of life story, and in that he succeeds, but I found myself consistently wanting more.
The slow-burn pacing is good for a film that really only takes place in two major locations, and the back and forth between them. The novelty of Colin Farrell’s trek to the pub was never lost on me, however, the effects of that slow pace set in around the third act, but I never was disinterested in where the story was going.
Our two leads, Gleeson and Farrell, are both phenomenal in the film and play off of each other very well. They manage to create scenes together that are laced with hints of friendliness, and all-the-while disillusionment. Kerry Condon is amazing as well, and I found her performance to be my personal point-of-access to the emotion of the film. And of course, Barry Keoghan is delightful as the village dollard.
In a surprisingly quiet film given the location of the windy coast of an Irish island, I found the score to elevate each scene that it accompanied. It conveyed perfectly a sense of confusion, and darkness that brilliantly paired with the humor of the film. The film’s humor is quite bitter, and it certainly is not for everyone, but it was always well-timed and executed.
The Banshees of Inisherin is a movie that shines brightly in moments when it reaches the climax of the points it is trying to make, but one that seems to overindulge in its own mannerisms at times. I’m fascinated by the complexity of the arrangements of themes and their executions, but perhaps my preconceived notions of this film are what sunk my overall experience of it. If you go into this movie expecting a dark and almost mythological tale of small-town trifles, then that’s exactly what you’ll get.
7/10
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