Film review: The Banshees of Inisherin starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson

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Published on Wednesday, 09 November 2022 12:44

Last Updated on 16 November 2022

Madeleine

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The Banshees of Inisherin starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson is a black comedy about a very badly managed falling out. When BFF (Best Friends Forever) becomes BFNM (No More), it is painful for all concerned. 

It doesn’t help that the story takes place on the suffocating little fictional Irish isle of Inisherin where the only privacy is to be found by escaping to The Mainland – Ireland in this case. Great grey sea vistas are juxtaposed with dim-lit cottage interiors, to give a feeling of the beauty and harshness of life, where pulling together is the only option. Until Callum starts pushing back.

The verdict

Haven’t we all chewed this one over though. How exactly do you pull away from someone who hasn’t done anything wrong or insulting particularly. It’s just that you feel they are ‘not helping’. Do you a) tell them the blunt truth b) make excuses c) freeze them out … it’s knotty.

There is Irish wit galore, amongst all the angst. The Irish-islander characters are a great part of it; the placating pub-landlord ‘That’s no very naice’, the village idiot ‘Have you seen ya sister near-ked?’, the prophetic wise-woman ‘Two will doi it tonoight…’ (‘two will die tonight’ imagine this spoken in Irish), the post-office busy-body ‘Does the letter say you’ve got a job?’, the confessional Priest ‘Are you asking me if I have immoral thoughts about MEN??’ and the brutish policeman who punches everyone into next week.

And the acting in The Banshees of Inisherin – Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson – is sublime.

Irish director Martin McDonagh is back with The Banshees of Inisherin marking a reunion with the stars of In Bruges, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

 

The trailer