It’s risky business calling any piece of media the “M” word. A Masterpiece. It immediately invokes stratospherically high expectations that can lead to dismal levels of disappointment in the wrong scenarios. It’s a phrase that needs to be used sparingly and with thought and consideration.
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is a masterpiece.
Reuniting frequent collaborators Martin McDonagh, Colin Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN depicts the heartbreaking end to a lifelong friendship on a small island off the coast of Ireland during the Irish Civil War in 1923. When Pádraic (Farrell) wakes up one morning to discover his best friend Colm (Gleeson) no longer cares to know him for unknown reasons, Pádraic sets out to repair the damaged relationship by any means necessary, much to Colm’s chagrin. Supported by his sister Siobahn (Kerry Condon) and the village oddball, young Dominic (Barry Keoghan), Pádraic spirals further and further into bewilderment and lonely despair as his former friend pushes back with equal force at every turn, culminating in a conflict that will change the course of both men’s lives forever.
The setting chosen for this film, far enough from the war to be surreally removed but close enough to hear the shots and see the long plumes of gunpowder smoke, is an ideal choice. Across the sea, but a short ferry away, in ear shot at all times but easily ignorable, the worldly conflict mirrors that occurring in Pádraic and Colm’s hearts. A microcosm of the Protestant and Catholic populations of Ireland as a whole who, to some at the time, simply woke one morning to find the long friendship had ended and a seemingly endless conflict had begun; ebbing and flowing with intensity as the tides on the seashore. To quote Pádraic, “Everything was fine yesterday…”
The island of Inisherin itself is shot beautifully, every color and layer of fog given delicate thought and detail as lovingly as an impressionist painting; the perfect backdrop for a tale as quintessentially somber, funny, and haunting as an Irish story can be.
And it is funny. In all the bleakness surrounding them, the residents of Inisherin speak with the black, dry wit McDonagh has become beloved for in films like IN BRUGES and SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS. Whether full-heartedly or uncomfortably, we laugh, and the dialogue never misses a beat in its rhythm as the lifelong neighbors trade barbs and many “feckin”s. At times so quick that if you stop listening for one moment you’ll miss a lifetime of subtext, while at others so carefully punctuated and spaced out that you’ll hang on the actors’ every breath, it feels wholly and organically human, something that will undoubtedly cement this film as a classic for decades to come.
Gleeson and Farrell are, as always, a powerhouse. It’s so hard to find a new superlative for how well they play off of each other after so many collaborations, but it’s safe to say these superlatives are intact here. Their chemistry is effortless and while their characters may no longer be, their presence on screen echoes that of two lifelong friends and frequent colleagues intimately aware of the other’s style and ethos. At times, one wonders if McDonagh even had to direct them at all, or if they were just given their lines and told to have at it: and I mean that as the absolute highest compliment.
Farrell in particular gives the performance of his career as Pádraic. It could have been so easy to over play someone espoused as “simple” and “dull” and even insulted as just being “nice” and nothing else, but he is absolutely nice. In his most tragic moments, he often laments about how certain residents of the island may never have really been nice people at all, and out of Ferrel’s mouth this, itself simple, phrase has all the cutting disappointment of razor wire. It is the worst thing he could ever think to call someone, and you can feel it in every syllable. On the opposite end, you get a man so hopelessly lonely that niceness is all he does have to give. For his sister, his lovely not-quite-house-donkey, and the much-maligned Dominic, he has nothing but love and kindness to give even as his obsession with reviving his friendship with Colm pushes them further and further away. With a glance, he makes you laugh or cry with him, and this role shines a light on him and his wealth of talent that makes it gleam brighter than it ever has. If he doesn’t get at least an Oscar nomination for this role, it will be a travesty.
It’s a trite thing in a review to say, “You must, you simply must see this movie.” It’s almost the double-dog dare-you of discourse, and about as cliche, but here writes this reviewer anyway, you must. You simply must see it. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is the kind of heartrendingly sincere and darkly humorous story we just don’t get enough of in cinemas these days. A true fable, a genuine folk tale. A story your grandmother could have told you on a foggy day, maybe when you lost a friend and it felt like a whole war had started in your own world. It’s beautiful, sincere, and so deeply sad. And above all, a masterpiece.
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN premieres in theaters this Friday, October 21th, 2022 in a limited release with a full release October 27th, 2022.
Tags: Barry Keoghan, Ben Davis, Brendan Gleeson, Carter Burwell, Colin Farrell, Ireland, Kerry Condon, Martin McDonagh, Mikkel E. G. Nielsen
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