The Banshees of Inisherin certainly had to live up to some high expectations from myself when I went to sit down and watch it. Not only is this the work of one of our great writers and directors, Martin McDonagh, who not only has written some of the greatest plays of our time, but has now with his previous three films moulded out a similarly sturdy and at times frequently excellent contribution to cinema also. However perhaps the biggest expectation that this film inadvertently has to face is that by all accounts it is a reunion of McDonagh with the acting pair of Collin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who with their film In Bruges, for my money gave us two of the best performances of our time, as well as one of the most perfect scripts to boot. With all that it’s hard to fathom that a small and simple tale like Banshees, that reveals itself to be ultimately almost parable like can rival the majesty of Bruges. And yet it does.
This is not a film with the immediate narrative and dialogue based thrills of Bruges, this is a more thoughtful and certainly more tender tale that takes its time to get at you. The film does have that startling and dazzling dialogue that McDonagh always has, but here again, it is more tender and all in the aim of making this simple tale of two men all the more touching and effecting. It will indeed make you laugh, with one gag in particular as hard as anything this year, but this is a parable of loneliness and the darkness of it. This is a film of pain and perfection, with hope as a final chord. It’s tender and mature stuff that McDonagh hasn’t struck at since Bruges. McDonagh’s narrative arc here is purely that of the character study of these two friends who have now led solely by Brendan Gleeson come to a division where Gleeson’s Colm character simply wishes to no longer spend his time with Collin Farrell’s Padraic. It’s an ingenious set-up and does deliver throughout exactly the sort of dark humour and contemplations on time and friendship that the set-up promises. McDonagh is working here more in a poetic sense than his other scripts. For as much as those previous do find a dazzling beauty in their dialogue, it is more – for lack of a better word – realistic. Here McDonagh is presenting a more rhythmic and fanciful series of events that by the end grow intensely dark and almost gruesomely fairy-tale-esque, with aspects to the tale and events that can only be described as indeed darkly absurdist. In a way I say these things to better acquaint audiences with the true nature of this tale, as it is certainly not the fashion of McDonagh we have seen brought to the screen just yet, albeit I have seen many glorious productions on stage in this vein. The film too is scored by a beautiful, luscious and haunting selection of pieces from Carter Burwell. Again, great work.
But this film is
the 9/10 I’m going to give it for the four chief performances that are all completely
perfect in every way. Every single line, every single movement is divine and exquisite.
It’s the exact sort of thing that warrants only hyperbole. Brendan Gleeson as
the instigator of events by all accounts may have the most difficult role, with
what comes to transpire with his character, chiefly with his mentality. It is
with him that the film finds its lyricism and its themes and concepts and
delivering these Gleeson is terrific, however the power of the film is from the
reactions of those who surround him. Barry Keoghan is so wonderfully transformative
and wickedly funny as effectively the village idiot. Keoghan’s great stroke
here is that he not only plays up to the role, but also fills it with pained subtext.
It’s a great entertaining performance, but also a very emotional one too. Again
all of the film is fused with this dread and sadness that regrettably feels all
too familiar and sullen in reality and makes this dark parable the beauty it is.
However the film belongs to Collin Farrell and Kerry Condon as his sister.
Farrell and Condon may very well be two of my favourite performances of the
year so far. Condon is stridently excellent and as the voice of reason may be seen
as the centre of the film and Condon’s performance of majesty and strength more
than earns such comments. But it is Farrell’s balance of such beauty, hope,
darkness, pain, longing and indeed humour and confusion that makes this film one
of the best of the year thus far. It’s exactly the sort of performance that should
and hopefully will warrant Awards intention, for whatever that is worth to you.
This reunion has led to an 9/10 wonder of a film that grows in my estimation every time I think about it. It’s a film like a parable as I’ve already eluded to and by the time you realise it is as such then you’re already either in or out. This however may be a darker piece than McDonagh’s other films but still has a sardonic and very funny humour to it. The film above all else does in this case end up a showcase of its acting talents, whereas with McDonagh’s other films the main takeaway may very well be the script or direction, for me in this case I found myself coming away heralding the four chief performances above all else. It’s not that the script is not McDonagh’s usual excellence, but rather instead this time that I found the piece best as a sublime performance showcase.
P.S. When it comes to playwrights who are also screen-writers I find that they are more attune to what stories are best as films and what are best as plays. Despite its obvious multiple settings and practical effects, I can’t help but feel that this piece would be more suited for the theatre. It’s an excellent film but there is a part of me that wonders in a world where this was not a COVID production, whether or not it would have received a different iteration.
- Thomas Carruthers
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