The Banshees of Inisherin [2022]
“Are you rowin’?
– I don’t t’ink we’re rowin’...
Well ‘t seems like you’re rowin’.
– It does seem like we’re rowin’...”
The Banshees of Inisherin is one of those films that comes along and revives your hopes for the industry as a whole. I don’t mean that in the cynical “movies are all written for babies now” way, but more in the sense that this film is daring, beautiful, strange, intelligent, and complex; while still managing to be approachable and entertaining. Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, Banshees is a film best discussed as you leave the theater and for several hours after. It feels like a Paul Thomas Anderson film and, like those, there’s a lot to unpack as the credits roll; a process of sorting your thoughts on its strange events that, I think, is an intentional facet of the piece, and one that will make it stand the test of time better than most others.
Banshees follows the tale of Pádraic Súilleabháin and the way his world changes after his lifelong friend, Colm Doherty, sets a boundary he simply doesn’t know how to process. It’s a film about fitting in, fitting out, and who we want to be in the face of who others say we are. Banshees is a difficult film to write about because it’s simultaneously about all those things, and about none of them. It’s an allegory about the Irish Civil War; it’s an examination of setting difficult boundaries with people you care about; it’s a lens between the difference of self-care and self-ish; it’s a film that examines both the better and worse faculties of small town life and the relationships posed therein. In short, The Banshees of Inisherin is both an art film with abstract concepts to discuss and debate, while also being a concrete tale about two friends who grow apart… And get a little crazy.
Fueled by the backdrop of Ireland’s stunning fields, hills, and cliffs, cinematographer Ben Davis puts his visual storytelling skills on full display here while Carter Burwell woos, moves, and angers us with a subtle score that guides, but never tells us how to feel. Alongside these are truly stellar performances from Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan, and, particularly, Colin Farell; further cementing him as one of our times greatest talents. I fully expect that Banshees will generate a significant amount of Oscar buzz and that, over time, scores will only go up, as both the fantastic technical elements and weirder narrative pieces have time to sit and stew with audiences. Where Banshees loses some points for me though, is in some of its more uneven presentation and writing.
It isn’t that any of it is bad… Weirdly, the issue is that all of it is so good.
The film walks a funny line between dark, sardonic comedy, and heavy, moody drama. It opens with some truly laugh-out-loud humor and has bits and pieces sprinkled throughout the rest of the film as well – with one particularly hilarious scene taking place inside the local general store/ post office. I was shocked that Banshees is not adapted from a stage-play because so many scenes have that Shakespearian “comedy of errors” feel to them… And they are perfectly executed. Similar to 2016’s film rendition of Fences, there are many moments in this film that feel as though they’re straight from the stage, and those are some of its strongest scenes. On the flipside, 3/4ths of the film is typical, heavy drama affair that makes a lot of the opening comedy feel a little out of place. It left me wanting more… Either more heavy drama like 2019’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire and 2021’s The Dig or more sardonic comedy along the lines of the Cornetto trilogy. Both elements of this film are so excellently executed that I want them as entire pieces. But, like oil and water, without some sort of emulsifier, they just separate into two distinct parts and leave Banshees a little strange in a way that I don’t think is intentional.
Overall, this is a truly fantastic film and one that I think will live on to be studied, copied, ruined, referenced, and remade in various forms. It’s smart, wonderful to look at, odd to experience, and never quite guides your hand when deciding what ground you should be standing on. The only person that selfishness hurts, is everyone. But, what does it mean to be selfish? What lengths can one reasonably go to defend one’s “self”, before that virtue of preservation becomes a vice that harms others? The Banshees of Inisherin is a film that is impossible to encapsulate in writing, because it’s larger than any one opinion or perspective. This is one people will be talking about for a very long time and I suggest you get to talking about it sooner, rather than later.
“Some things there's no moving on from. And I think that's a good thing.”
