Martin McDonagh's "THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN"
Review by Dennis D. McDonald
“I just don’t like ya no more”
Be prepared for a character study that focuses on poverty, despair, friendship and its dissolution, social isolation, leaving home and family, and late blooming ambition.
Also be prepared for drop-dead gorgeous photography, terrific music, and world-class acting.
Colin Farrell, in my opinion one of the most accomplished actors working in film today, plays his complex role with amazing subtlety. Brendan Gleeson provides another example of his impressive versatility. Kerry Condon portrays a balanced view of the long-suffering sister who must choose between her own needs and those of others.
Given the time (1923) and the setting (isolated island off the coast of Ireland from which gunshots of the ongoing civil war can be heard) there are many directions the film could have taken: social commentary, black comedy, farce, cute rural adventure, broad Irish stereotypes, etc.
Writer/director Martin McDonagh instead focuses on individual characters as opposed to all-out social or political commentary. Gleeson’s character one day decides he doesn’t want to be friends anymore with Colin Farrell‘s character. The results of this falling out take a tragic turn that many will find neither entertaining nor appealing (and certainly not funny).
Some might call this a “black comedy” but that’s an overly simplistic label. “Tragicomedy” is probably more accurate. I did find myself laughing in a few spots, but these are few.
This is a character study that lays bare complex human relationships set against a time and place whose impacts are still rippling today.
Were I to compare this film’s emotional impact to others I would probably select Paul Schrader’s First Reformed or some of the films of Yasujiro Ozu, but BANSHEES OF INISHERIN stands on its own.
Review copyright © 2023 by Dennis D. McDonald