3 out of 5

Directed by: Martin McDonagh

I laughed quite a bit; I felt swept up by Carter Burwell’s subtle, affecting score, and the lush, Irish landscapes on which this was shot. Little touches in each actor’s performance, instantly making me forget the actors, and only see their on-screen roles, amused by every minute facial tic or shift in body language.

I also, at various points, kept realizing: this is probably all this film is, then – the story is what it is; the themes are pretty much spoken aloud; everything is telegraphed very clearly. Because the filmmaking is quite excellent, this clarity is not a bad thing, but where / when the film goes for subtlety or symbolism, it suggests there’s perhaps some deeper level of impact that, to me, wasn’t so much coming across. I’d attribute this to writer / director Martin McDonagh being foremost a playwright, as that kind of tonal broadcasting seems more fitting for the stage. While his movies, thus far, have been generally a bit broader, Banshees seems to have its roots as a play, and perhaps maintained that framework in its translation to a film script. Or it’s just a bit overdone.

The movie opens with Pádraic (Colin Farrell) inviting Colm (Brendan Gleeson) around to the pub for their daily drink, only to be completely ignored – Colm offers him literally no physical or vocal reply, just silence.

Puzzled by this treatment from his long time friend, Pádraic mentions it to his sister (Kerry Condon), who jokingly suggests that maybe Colm just doesn’t like Pádraic anymore. …Only this turns out to be exactly the case, as Colm – a composer, rather literate – has recognized the more simple-minded Pádraic as ‘dim,’ and has decided he doesn’t have time for that in his life anymore. This is McDonagh’s humor at work, but is also indicative of the tone to which I’ve referred: the movie presents a thing in an offhand way, and then that thing very much is true.

The setting for the film is a small, Irish island named Inisherin. It’s the mid-1920s, and the civil war with the IRA looms in the background, only seen / heard as puffs of smoke and canon fire from the mainland. Inisherin, meanwhile, is gorgeous – green expanses, chilly blue skies, long stretching walkways – and characters will look afar and muse on how no one knows who’s fighting whom or why anymore. Nod along.

Mining humor from the abruptness of Colm’s turn versus his friendliness with others, and how this butts up against rules of expected civility – you just don’t stop talking to someone, right? Pádraic keeps questioning – McDonagh smartly avoids indulging in small town yuks, and instead finds the humanity of those two caricatures: we understand both sides, not wanting to deal with those who waste our time, but understanding the frustration of the rug being pulled from beneath Pádraic when he’s done no direct harm. And then the darkly comedic spin: how can Colm underline the gravity of his request that Pádraic no longer speak to him? His approach to this is aggressive, and things slowly escalate from there, but not without the characters telling us their plans up front.

You can find biblical allusions, and easily read into the social / political commentary of this squabble between once-friends, and none of it is heavy handed. Farrel’s performance is incredibly gracious; Gleeson’s perfectly pinpointed in its expressiveness. Condon captures the incredulity of one viewing this as a third party, while also trying to juggle her own life, and Barry Keoghan, playing something of the town’s slapstick dunce, excels in making that role three dimensional as well, while more directly representing some of humanity’s more tragic impulses.

The editing of some scenes has some oddly chosen cutaways, but by and large, the look and feel of the film is immaccurately controlled. While I’m critical of the movie’s depth, it never drags, and deftly finds humor in so many inbetween moments without undercutting the seriousness with which the characters view their situations.

While this isn’t at all an In Bruges sister story, excepting some thematic comparisons, The Banshees of Inisherin absolutely proves that Farrell, Gleeson, and Mcdonagh are still very much lock-step.