The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) Review

“There goes that dream”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Many can say friendship is forever, but does that stick when you get older?


PLOT


2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin takes place in the spring of 1923, near the end of the Irish civil war in the titular fictional isle. The story follows Colm Doherty who decides to ignore his close friend Pádraic Súlleabháin. This does confuse the friend to where his sister Siobhán jokingly claims maybe he doesn’t like him anymore. Ironically, that is exactly how he feels when asked why he’s doing so. As this disappoints Pádraic, Siobhán still encourages him to go out as he always does. For the time being, he would steal poitín with a fellow local, Dominic Kearney, from his father Garda Peadar (Gary Lydon). Dominic uses the time to express interest in his sister, but Pádraic rebuffs since that makes him uncomfortable and is more concerned why Colm doesn’t like him anymore. So the next day, he sees him again and he admits he finds him dull. He also says he wants to compose music he’ll be remembered for. Seeing how this troubles her brother, Siobhán demands Colm to not treat him like so but is too stunned of him being firm not wanting to make amends. The day after, they find Dominic severely beaten by Garda Peadar over the poitín that they let him stay the night for his protection. At church, Pádraic does try getting the assist of a priest (David Pearse) to get Colm to go back to h being friends, but the old friend still doesn’t budge. In response, Colm gives an ultimatum to stop talking to him or he’ll start cutting off his fingers with a shear each time he refuses to listen. Pádraic may suggest he’s becoming depressed, but he denies it before going back home. At dinner, Dominic questions Siobhán why she’s never married, but that only pisses her off that she doesn’t plan letting him stay another night. However, he does tell Pádraic he’ll be okay if he doesn’t reconnect with Colm. When going shopping, he runs into Garda Peadar who mocks a suicide and goes public of his abuse towards his son. The officer takes the exposure personal and punches him for it, resulting in Colm to drive him home but doesn’t talk to him during the whole drive. At the local pub does Pádraic berate Colm for throwing away their friendship and accuses Peadar for molesting his son. Despite Siobhán arriving with the intent to defuse this rivalry, Colm claims that was the most interesting he’s ever been. By morning, the ultimatum is proven serious when his left index finger is found at Pádraic’s door. Siobhán returns the finger on her brother’s behalf, but he still plans to cut the remainder of his left four fingers should he keep bothering him. Despite this, Pádraic still gets jealous of him bonding with another fiddler named Declan (Aaron Monaghan) that he lies to the latter of his father being hit by a bread van, rushing back home in the process. He then runs into local elder Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton) that warns him a death or two will come to the isle. When hanging out with Dominic again, he tells him what Colm said of him being most interesting when drunk. This encourages Pádraic to tell him what he did to Declan, but this disappoints his younger friend that he chooses not to talk to him anymore. He later chooses to officially express in romantic interest in Siobhán but she sadly turns him down. Pádraic later gets drunk and confronts Colm again, who actually gets in a better mood due to finishing a new song that he considers renewing their friendship. That backfires however when Súlleabháin drunkenly admits what he did to Declan. Rather than meet up at the pub again, Colm removes his remaining four fingers and throws them at Padraic’s door. Annoyed of this feud and an everlasting amount of boredom, Siobhán officially decides to leave to the mainland for a library job. As this leaves his brother devastated, he would then be stunned to find his pet donkey Jenny choked to death on one of the fingers. When confronting Colm again, he offers a truce but dismisses it with the intent to burn his home the next day. Peadar confronts Pádraic of where Dominic’s whereabouts have been and when he lacks sympathy of the donkey, Colm punches him for it. When the next day comes, he keeps his promise but does save Colm’s dog Sammy in the process. Peadar does see the fire and as he rushes over, he’s stopped by Mrs. McCormick who takes him to Dominic’s body found in the lake. After reading a letter from her sister encouraging him to leave like she did, does Pádraic write a letter to her where he glosses over his loneliness and lies of what happened to Jenny, but does say what happened to Dominic. Colm got out of the fire in time and he apologizes for what happened to Jenny, believing that burning the house has ended the feud. Súlleabháin doesn’t see it that way however claiming it truly could’ve ended had he stayed inside. When discussing of the Irish civil war coming to an end, Pádraic does believe the fighting will begin again soon because some things are no moving on from; He deems it to be a good thing before leaving. The film ends Mrs. McCormick watching them from the burnt house, unbeknownst to both men.


THOUGHTS


I was already fascinated with Martin McDonagh’s filmography for the most unpredictable set of storytelling you wouldn’t expect nowadays and the gaps of his movies make the next one quite eventful. Due to past recognition he got for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the expectations were high and he delivered so casually. I think that in one way, this is quite funny of a movie due to how bizarre one friendship turned rivalry can play out. I mean you’d be shocked to see a guy sever his fingers just to be left alone. Having this set during a real life civil war however does bring up how there is always a senseless cycle of conflict over humanity’s lifetime and its best to find a middle ground in reality rather than force whatever good you got or had. This is the dilemma between Pádraic and Colm because the latter is melancholic and too stubborn to admit he has a form of depression that makes him want to approach things differently while the former is just overwhelming in trying to keep what makes his life special that is the kindness that comes from friendship. Thanks to great chemistry that originated from In Bruges, Brendan Gleeson & Colin Farrell are a great pair once again as a dynamic duo who just know how to get under each other’s skin without trying. You actually do get where both sides are coming from, but simultaneously see they’re overreacting on how they’re going about it hence no resolution. And because they make mistakes that make a truce impossible, you can only address they do it themselves which makes the whole point of the movie that conflict of any kind is senseless. Now if you’re not rooting for these two walking into conflict, then you’re likely rooting for two others who actually seek change and try taking it upon themselves to do so. Barry Keoghan honestly broke my heart as Dominic because he’s a troubled boy trying to fit in and due to the neglect from his abusive dad, it does become a challenge for him to have social awareness for the most part. He wants affection and he gets it best from the Súlleabháins because they don’t intend to hurt him and they do their best to welcome him. He looks up to Pádraic because he’s like a brother he yearned for until seeing he was making mistakes that made him no different from Colm. He was so attracted to Siobhán because he couldn’t believe any woman would put any notice in him. When he shoots his shot, you know he’s setting himself up for disaster and that is where heartbreak hits most because at that point, he knows he’ll never be happy the way he wishes. As that leads to his downfall, we were able to see one spark a new beginning. Kerry Condon was arguably mesmerizing as Siobhán because she was the only one who is a natural voice of reason who uses it as much as she can until seeing it wasn’t gonna be effective like before. She definitely didn’t want to break Dominic’s heart, but she couldn’t lie to him and get his hopes up. It’s a great acting lesson between Condon & Keoghan that earns their Oscar nominations alongside Farrell & Gleeson because the eyes told the story on what they were feeling within and the cinematography by Ben Davis peaks with that conversation because you pick up on the loneliness everyone’s been feeling throughout for better or worse. Siobhán even cried herself to sleep at one point because that reflected how disappointed she was feeling with her life and she knew she’d remain so if she didn’t leave. You don’t want her to leave her brother because they’re all they had after losing their parents, but you had to respect she just had to do something for herself for once. Should Pádraic or Colm take up the advice to leave for a change, it’ll be up to either one of them if they really want it which is the relatable attitude we all share as human beings if we want things to go our way mentally. In short, The Banshees of Inisherin is a deserving Best Picture nominee for being an unorthodox tale on how adulthood can take drastic turns as we get older. If those are the kind of movies you prefer, see this now.

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