The Banshees of Inisherin (2022, dir. Martin McDonagh, Ireland) by Kymm Zuckert
“Now, if I’ve done something to you, just tell me what I’ve done to you. And if I’ve said something to you, maybe I’ve said something when I was drunk and I’ve forgotten it. But I don’t think I’ve said something when I was drunk and I’ve forgotten it. But if I did, then tell me what it was. And I’d say sorry for that, too, Colm. From my heart, I’ll say sorry, just stop running away from me like some fool of a moody schoolchild.”
When I first saw the trailer for The Banshees of Inisherin, I knew this was the film for me.
I have been a big fan of Martin McDonagh since seeing his play, The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Atlantic Theatre Company in 2006, before its Broadway run. That play was one of the greatest theatrical experiences of my life, mostly because it was in a very intimate space, so it was pretty intense, to say the least. If you know, you know. And if you really do know, I was sitting in the front row centre.
That play made me a ride or die Martin McDonagh fan for life, and I didn’t change my mind when he came out with his first film, In Bruges, a dark comedy about a couple of hit men played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, so when I saw that those two actors were in another Martin McDonagh film, I was all in, sight unseen.
The Banshees of Inisherin takes place in 1923 on an island off the coast of Ireland. It is a stunningly beautiful place, the kind of scenery that is seen in many Irish films, the kind where everyone is twinkly and puckish. This is not one of those movies. One review I heard called it the anti-Waking Ned Devine, and boy howdy, is it ever.
On this beautiful island off the coast of Ireland, where you know everyone and everyone knows you, and there is literally nothing to do but go to the pub, there are two best friends, Pádraic and Colm (Farrell and Gleeson, respectively), or at least they were, because when the film starts, Colm has decided that he doesn’t like Pádraic anymore, and not only doesn’t want to be his friend, he doesn’t want to ever speak to him again. Pádraic at first thinks he has done something wrong, then that Colm is joking, and then just tries to get him to be friends again, but Colm stands firm. Probably too firm.
This is a stunning film, undoubtedly one of the best of the year, in my opinion, and terrifically funny. But it’s also one of the most heartbreaking films I’ve seen in a long time, and I don’t know if it’s one that I could bring myself to see again. I spent the last half hour of it not just crying, but audibly sobbing. I’m not saying it’s not a comedy, but at the same time it is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.
The performances are fantastic, Colin Farrell absolutely gives the best of his life. Remember when they tried to make him an American action star? And he just seemed so kind of bland, good looks and nothing more? That part of his career has been harder and harder to remember what with In Bruges, and The Lobster, and After Yang, and it’s been almost completely erased with this stunning performance of a man whose life as he knows it disappears without warning. (Let’s not speak of his acting through a mountain of prosthetics in The Batman, not that he wasn’t good, but that it kind of ruins my thesis. Moving on.)
Does Brendan Gleeson also give the best performance of his life? Well, no, but only because The Guard exists, a criminally underseen film by John Michael McDonagh, brother to Martin, which was entirely terrific and Gleeson was absolutely robbed of the Oscar, not even nominated, an absolute crime. That said, he is great here, too.
Everything about this gem of a film is spot on, the cinematography, the score, the art direction, the animal acting, it’s all worthy of award attention, and I hope it gets its due. I hope people go to see it, I hope it makes money, and I hope the next time Martin McDonagh decides to make a film, he will do it without mercilessly wrenching every possible tear out of me. On the other hand, you do what you gotta do, Martin, and I’ll be there, tears or no.
Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog