Stealing a line from Doug Stanhope for my title here, but I think it's fitting. The Banshees of Inisherin is about two guys in a small island village called Inisherin. One day, Colm just decides to end his friendship with Pad, and Pad doesn't understand why. And this is the core of the movie, and at first, it sounds like a really weak premise. But then things get weird.
The reason itself is mundane, but the way this show quickly begins to escalate is both dark and hilarious. I won't go into details further in, but early on Colm tells Pad that every time he even tries to talk to him, Colm will cut off one of his fingers and give it to Pad, and he'll do this until he has no fingers left to even play his violin. And all I will say is again, early on in the movie, one finger is delivered. The escalation here is insane, and like any good dark comedy, this is both unnerving and hilarious. It only gets darker and more absurd from here.
I went with that Stanhope line in the title for a reason, and that is a lot of what happens in this movie is rooted in two things, one of which is boredom, and in a similar vein, the other is a lack of direction. You realize pretty quickly in the movie just how little is going on in the lives of anyone in town, especially with Colm, Pad, and Pad's sister. Pad didn't seem to have that much going on in his life when Colm ended the friendship, and Colm seemed to be a bit unhinged having realized how little he's done with his life so far. If you have ever been bored for a long time or lacked any real goals for too long, you can understand how maddening it can be. And then there is the realization that has been the lives of these two. It's reflected in the other people in the town as well, but not to the same degree.
Without spoiling it, I will say if I were to describe the ending of the show as it happened it may come off as a tragedy, but in some ways, there is almost this demented optimism about it. That is about the most I can say about how this movie wraps up without giving anything away, so I will leave it at that.
This movie is a bizarre one, and I haven't seen anything like it in a very long time. I also see why a week after its release I could get ticked and be one of five people in the theater because this is not a movie a lot of people are going to get into. Dark humor like this does not hit home for a lot of people. But if that is your thing and the idea of watching two guys quarrel over something minor in funny ways, this is an amazing movie. I loved every moment of it and highly recommend it.
I definitely need to check this out. I think Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell are phenomenal actors, only getting better with age. I love the idea of the two working again after In Bruges too. They definitely have chemistry.
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Hi, excellent review, looks interesting although it's not my favorite genre. I try to look for hidden gems in International cinema.