‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Review: Only Martin McDonagh Can Make a Madcap Modern Fable Seem So True [TIFF 2022]
The charming and dark McDonagh reunites with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in the equally charming and dark look at fondness, family and friendship.
As much as anyone who was actually born on the Emerald Isle hates to hear it, there are many of us in North America who feel a kinship to our Irish blood, limited as it may be. You may only have a drop of actual Irish blood in you, lost within generations of being in Canada or god forbid, America, but there’s something within you that feels a connection, and occasionally it can come out in your personality. Perhaps its the love of a rainy-grey horizon that drives you to sit in front of a fireplace and enjoy the quiet. Perhaps its the stoicism that only an emotionally distant father can provide. Perhaps its learning to speak in sarcasm before you learn you learn English. Perhaps its eventually admitting personal details such as that in a movie review.
However you don’t need to be Irish or even Irish-Canadian to appreciate the unbelievably legendary streak of prolific writers that come from that country. There’s a dark sense of humor that seems to permeate the entire culture, there’s a truth to everything they write, and yes… there’s the aforementioned sarcasm. It’s easy with those qualities to find a similar comfort within a Martin McDonagh film that you would fireside. Now, it should be made clear, it isn’t an overall sense of safety or contentment, necessarily, but it is a comfort none-the-less, as McDonagh, like generations of Irish storytellers before him has a way to get to the core of the world and the strange little people who inhabit it.
In his latest project, The Banshees of Inisherin, McDonagh reunites with ‘the lads’ from In Bruge, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, and immediately begin recreating that same magic. The locale of Inis Mór, painted in vivid greens and smoky greys is just as beautiful as the midnight Bruge caught in a gentle snowfall. More importantly, that same fraternity between Gleeson, Farrell and McDonagh picks up right where it left off, merely transporting the family to a different location in Europe.
The Banshees of Inisherin follows the story of two friends who live on a remote island off the coast of Ireland in 1923. Pádraic (Farrell) is devastated when his best friend Colm (Gleeson) abruptly puts an end to their lifelong friendship. With help from his sister and a troubled young islander, Pádraic sets out to repair the damaged relationship by any means necessary. However, as Colm's resolve only strengthens, he soon delivers an ultimatum that leads to shocking consequences.
There are so few male love stories in cinema, that already tackling the subject of two hetero life partners feels special, but the engrained brotherhood between Farrell and Gleeson is so clearly transmitted through the screen that it makes the struggle so much more believable. Gleeson has made a good chunk of his career playing an ornery, solitary man, so slipping into Colm’s sudden change of heart is not only by the fireside, it’s the worn pair of slippers Gleeson’s owned for decades. But have no doubt, the change of heart can only come by presenting the fact that he has a heart, yet another strength of Gleeson. Even when ornery, he can somehow never appear shallow, you always understand the depth of his character, the motivation, and again, Colm is no different. Even as the friendship dissolves before the audiences’ eyes, there’s something about the heart that Gleeson presents that still gives you hope, because you can still sense there is pain behind those eyes.
Farrell’s pattern of proving he may be one of this generation’s greatest character actors continues, as his endearing and simple Pádraic out-hearts even Gleeson’s pain-filled eyes. There has been plenty of early talk about Farrell possibly topping the list of early Oscar hopefuls because of this role, and it would certainly be warranted, but truth be told, so much of that relies on McDonagh’s brilliantly balanced script. The journey McDonagh gave Farrell is such a beautifully tragic arc, we get to see his heart break over and over again, and at first attempt some levity and to brush off the woes of the world around him, but eventually simply give up on life and give in to his darker thoughts. Its comedy to tragedy and its most emotionally devastating best.
Farrell’s and Pádraic’s journey also mirrors the subplot of Barry Keoghan’s Dominic, another sweet and simple local, in excess of both simplicity and sweetness. Having heard McDonagh being interviewed after the TIFF screening, he explained in great detail how sad Dominic’s backstory was, and the characters journey from hopeful to heartache rings just as true as Pádraic’s. Yet the charm of his characters is the charm that McDonagh can resonate throughout his films. The situations may be more akin to outrageous parables rather than real life, but, life is often a series of ridiculous situations full of caricatures that don’t seem real. Life is full of joy. Life is full of heartache.
McDonagh has written the most charming film of his career because he has kept that ridiculousness, that heartache and that joy in his heart every time he writes, and Banshees is merely the culmination of more life experience. His sense of truth is unapparelled in today’s storytelling world, he can make you feel something for every character on screen, and the actors within his films have never gotten in the way of the story telling. They undoubtedly believe in McDonagh’s ability to get his audience to feel, to sympathize and to go along for the journey. They seem to just get him, because his writing is so accessible. At the core, Banshees is an examination of male friendship, which fits McDonagh’s sense of balance so well. He knows make friendships can be volatile, angry, moody or violent, but he also knows there is vulnerability and love there. Setting the film during a time when civil conflict within Ireland had been raging for nearly a year. The characters hearing far off gunfire mirrors the audience watching the small war between Pádraic and Colm.
As a director, McDonagh is serviceable, certainly., but much like the respect his actors have for his story, he seems to reciprocate towards them. He simply gets out of the way and lets brilliant actors read his words and bring them to life. Nothing seems forced, nothing seems like there are long discussions on motivation or blocking, these characters simply exist, and again, it speaks to McDonagh’s insane sense of balance. It’s difficult to believe that McDonagh has yet to win an Academy award for writing. He’s been nominated several times, but if anything were to finally nab him the golden god, it should be The Banshees of Inisherin.
McDonagh and his cast have crafted a modern day allegory in the style of an old folk tale; a cinematic yarn that the small town elder tells kids as they ride their bikes through the midtown square. It serves as a lesson about love and loss, and more importantly, the reality of what those mean to those of us who wear our hearts on our sleeve.