"Wounded but funny, quiet but resonant and resistant to anything like a Hollywood formula, The Banshees of Inisherin is a strangely profound little comedy. It’s one of the few true originals among movies this year"
Tragedy and comedy are perfectly paired in this latest jet-black offering from Martin McDonagh, which, like the writer-director’s previous film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2018), seems a strong contender for the Oscars’ best picture race. Reuniting the two stars of McDonagh’s 2008 debut feature In Bruges, it’s an end-of-friendship breakup movie that swings between the hilarious, the horrifying and the heartbreaking in magnificent fashion. It’s 1923, and on the fictional island of Inisherin the sounds of the Irish civil war (“a bad do”) can be heard across the water, providing suitable background noise for the internecine struggles to come. Every day at 2pm, dairy farmer Pádraic (Colin Farrell) calls on his best friend, Colm (Brendan Gleeson), and the two head to the pub. They’re a chalk-and-cheese pair: the former a simple soul who can talk for hours about horse poo; the latter “a thinker” who writes music, plays the fiddle and falls prey to bouts of existential despair. Circumstance has made them inseparable.
Today, however, is different. When Pádraic knocks, Colm simply sits in his chair, smoking. “Why wouldn’t he answer the door to me?” Pádraic asks his smarter sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon), with whom he shares the home from which she constantly has to eject his beloved donkey (“animals are for outside!”). “Perhaps he just doesn’t like you no more,” Siobhán replies – a joke that soon turns out to be horribly true.
Depressed by a sense of time slipping away, and determined to do something creative with whatever years he has left, Colm has decided to cut Pádraic out of his life, ridding himself of the “aimless chatting” of “a limited man”. “What is he, 12?” scoffs Dominic (Barry Keoghan), a local lad who harbours hopeless dreams of escaping his daddy (a brutish policeman whose hobbies are drinking and masturbation) and taking up with the bookish Siobhán. But Colm is deadly serious and makes a solemn promise, or threat: every time Pádraic talks to him, he will cut off one of his own fiddle-playing fingers.
“I just don’t have a place for dullness in my life anymore.”
“You live on an island off the coast of Ireland — what the hell are ya hopin’ for?”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/23/the-banshees-of-inisherin-review-martin-mcdonagh-colin-farrell-brendan-gleeson
"I just try to write characters that I haven't seen before, or haven't seen for a long time."
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The story begins with a deceptively simple premise: Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell), a kind-hearted but simple-minded farmer, arrives at the home of his lifelong friend Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) to head to the pub, only for Colm to refuse to answer the door.
Colm eventually reveals his motivation: he finds Pádraic "dull" and believes that the time spent in idle chatter is a waste of his remaining years. As a musician, Colm is obsessed with his legacy and wants to devote his life to composing music. When Pádraic refuses to accept this rejection, Colm issues a macabre ultimatum: every time Pádraic speaks to him, Colm will cut off one of his own fingers with sheep shears and deliver it to Pádraic’s door.
Historical Allegory: The Irish Civil War
The film is set in 1923, during the tail end of the Irish Civil War. While the residents of Inisherin watch smoke and hear explosions from the mainland, they remain largely detached from the conflict.
Mirroring the Conflict: The war was fought between former allies who had just won independence from Britain but split over the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Similarly, Pádraic and Colm go from "best of friends" to bitter enemies over an internal disagreement.
"Inisherin" as "Inis Éireann": The name is a play on words; Inisherin roughly translates to "Island Ireland." The microcosm of the island reflects the senselessness of a war where brothers and friends turn on each other for reasons that, to an outsider, seem increasingly abstract and cruel.
The film concludes with an uneasy stalemate. Pádraic has burned down Colm’s house (sparing his dog but indirectly causing the death of his own beloved donkey, Jenny).
Mutually Assured Destruction: On the beach, Colm suggests that perhaps the burning of the house has settled the score. Pádraic disagrees, stating, "Some things there’s no moving on from. And I think that’s a good thing." This echoes the long-standing bitterness that followed the real Civil War.
Mrs. McCormick (The Banshee): The old woman who haunts the island is the literal "Banshee." She doesn't scream; she simply watches. Her presence at the end suggests that while the "war" might have quieted, death and sorrow are now permanent fixtures of Inisherin.
The Final Exchange: Colm thanks Pádraic for looking after his dog during the fire, and Pádraic responds "Any time." This suggests that even in a state of total war, the remnants of their shared history and common humanity still linger, making the conflict all the more tragic.
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