Writer/director Martin McDonagh brings together a classic couple for The Banshees by Inisherin (now on HBO Max): Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who bickered and joked so memorably in McDonagh’s feature debut in 2008, are exemplary In Bruges. banshees, which received seven Golden Globe nominations, stars them as best friends living on a quiet island in 1920s Ireland – best friends whose best pal is doomed. As you’d expect from McDonagh’s pen, it’s a conversational character study that leaves the filmmaker in a less performative strife than 2017’s Oscar-baiting Three billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouriand to make a film that rivals the inspired storytelling In Bruges.
The essentials: It’s 2pm – time to go to the pub for a pint. Padraic (Farrell) knocks on his old pal Colm’s (Gleeson) door, but Colm just ignores him. Padric shrugs. This is not common. They are close friends. They always go to the pub and strike up a conversation. The bartender fills Padraic’s glass and speculates, “Maybe he just doesn’t like you anymore.” Colm finally shows it and confirms, “I just don’t like you anymore.” Padraic blinks, grimaces, scratches his head. What has he done? Sometimes he gets drunk and says silly things, but it’s never something that can’t be forgiven. It’s like someone flipped a switch in Colm. Padraic walks down the dirt road home. This is Inisherin, an island off the larger Emerald Isle where civil war is raging. Does a statue of the Virgin Mary overlook the main street on Inisherin? Does a Guinness pour a dense head of foam? An explosion halts Padraic. He sees a puff of smoke on the other side of the water. “Good luck to you – whatever you’re fighting for,” he says.
Whatever you fight about On the way home, Padraic meets one of his island mates, Dominic (Barry Keoghan), who exudes a real town idiot vibe: “I don’t pay attention to wars. i am against them Wars and soap,” says Dominic. He’s the son of the local cop (Gary Lydon) who beats up poor Dominic, possibly to improve his skills dealing with locals and possibly the reason the boy is anti-soap. Other locals are hopelessly local too – the busy woman in the general store reading other people’s mail, the priest who spits out foul language while arguing with Colm, and old Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton), who wears a headscarf and has a stern expression and looked like she was about to cook Hansel and Gretel’s bones. Fewer psychologically Local is Padraic’s sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) who has a head over her. She may not be plagued by the crazies of the native islanders. She is perceptive, logical, pragmatic, perceptive. She and Padraic live together. She prefers reading to going to the pub. She washes and cooks. She’s after Padraic for letting his beloved pet donkey, Jenny, into the house. He gets along really well with Jenny. They understand each other, man and donkey. She seems very cute. But she also shits on the floor.
Siobhan, seeking sanity as sane people do, confronts Colm. What’s his damn problem? Padraic is a nice man. Colm doesn’t mince his words: Padraic is boring. blunt. He talks for hours about what he found in his donkey’s shit. (“It was my pony,” Padraic corrects him.) And he has no more time in his life for that babble. Colm plays the violin. He wants to write music, do something creative and satisfying in the last years of his life. He’s getting on in years. Mortality is heavy. He wants peace. Padraic still doesn’t understand. He is hurt. Of course he’s injured. He’s sitting on the floor at home and Jenny lowers her head and he strokes her muzzle. Padraic will not accept Colm’s explanation. They sit at opposite ends of the pub, Colm making music with others, Padraic alone. Padraic keeps bugging Colm. Like picking at a scab. Finally, Colm threatens him: if Padraic doesn’t leave him alone, Colm will cut off a finger himself. Padraic does not stop. One day Padraic and Siobhan are having dinner when WUMP is a noise at the door. Padraic looks outside. There in the grass. Colm’s fingers. Well it will be me.
Which movies will it remind you of?: Damn it reminds me of In Brugesand that’s an amazing thing, though insider is also a separate matter.
Notable performance: Farrell gives perhaps the performance of his career, aided by Gleeson, whose charisma never falters. Condon is exceptional as the voice of desperate reason. But Keoghan, concocting a simple syrup of idiocy, desperation and impish mischief, sociably reflects the deepest tragicomic notes insider plays.
Memorable dialogue: Padraic: “I used to think it was nice to be one of the good guys in life. Now I think it’s the worst.”
gender and skin: An ugly, pale, beer-gutted cop passed out naked save for his cap, in a shot that lasts a few bars longer than we’d like.
Our opinion: Again: Whatever you fight about There is a boat to and from Inisherin but you don’t feel like there’s really much coming and going. It’s a remote place, which is good when war is raging. But notice the things we don’t see on the island – electricity, motorized vehicles, radios, not a lot of kids. There are cows, a witch woman, people drinking, a shopkeeper thirsty for “news”, a delightfully rugged picture-postcard landscape. The influence of modern civilization is nil. So what corrupts the cop with the sociopathic streak, or someone like Colm who confesses his “desperation” to the priest? It’s human nature. Must be. What else could it be? We are a hopeless species.
Another idea here: What’s wrong with “nice”? Padraic is “nice”. There’s a lot of talk about how “nice” he is, as if “nice” isn’t good. Is it? Good? Or not? Colm dreams of leaving a song for others to sing. Siobhan dreams of doing more than washing and reading her books. Even the simple Dominic dreams that one day someone will love him. What is Padraic’s dream? Was he thinking of anything but the cows, his donkey, chatting in the pub, sleeping in the same little room as his sister? Is it wrong not to dream of more? Not necessarily. Is it wrong to have modest ambitions? Of course not. But what happens when one ideology clashes with the other? Fight. Resentment. Divorce. War? War.
McDonough roots the drama in the peaty soil of Irish melancholy and black comedy. Its heartbreak is as strong as its comedy, both intertwined with the rhythms of dialogue. Take in the surroundings – beautiful scenery, dim lights, stillness, nothing to distract you from the erroneous train of thought as the sun, an orange coin on the horizon, sets majestically. insider is a sometimes absurd microcosmic fable that eschews the broad politics of Three billboards and the scattered meta-comedy of Seven psychopaths for the juicy stuff from In Bruges, who playfully and profoundly reflected on the complexity and irony of an odd friendship. One thing that McDonagh has in common is that nothing he’s ever done was “nice,” so we fucking know where he stands on that score.
Our appeal: Stream it. Very funny, provocative and moving and exquisitely written, The Banshees by Inisherin is one of the best movies of 2022.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more about his work below johnserbaatlarge.com.