When a lifelong friendship ends in violence and pain

In his latest movie, McDonagh takes you back to Ireland in 1923. A time during which not only the battlefields rumble but also the lifelong friendship between Padraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson). While Padraic fills his simple life with walking, living with his sister and enjoying a pint at the local pub, his Friend Colm wants a more meaningful life. This different opinion on life hasn’t become a problem until now. One day Colm informs Padraic that he wants to end their friendship because there’s no time for silly conversations and hours in the pub. Instead, he wants to lead a more meaningful by focusing on writing music and more important issues.

At first, Padraic doesn’t believe it and tries to hold on to their friendship, but Colm is headstrong and wants to ensure his ex-friend backs off. The results in violence, a tense relationship and Colm cutting off one of his fingers until Padraic would finally get the message. Padraic resorts to the other two prominent figures on the island, the troubled kid, Dominic (Barry Keoghan), and Padraic’s worried sister, Siobhan (Kerry Condon), but will they able to help the friends out before their relationship takes the darkest turn?

Never change a winning team

Suppose you’ve seen Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, or In Bruges; you know that McDonagh’s writing is always on point. Whether it’s the dark humour, an incredibly witty conversation or an honest and poignant moment, whatever is going on, it’s been heightened even more due to the stunning script. It’s precisely what you get and need in The Banshees of Inisherin. He finds the perfect balance between humour and darkness, between the joys of friendship and family connections and what happens when all those relationships are at a breaking point.

However, no matter how great the writing is, his ensemble is even better. The Banshees of Inisherin again prove that McDonagh has an eye for bringing actors together who create magic on screen. While there are no weak links in this movie, this film absolutely belongs to Farrell (The Lobster). Padraic’s different character traits come through beautifully and balanced. Whether it’s the more naïve, innocent, loving side or the more determined, broken and selfish personality, you always root for Padraic. The sympathy for him fades off a little bit, but that’s because you probably come to understand why Colm would want to end the relationship.

Gleeson (Calvary) gives Colm the perfect amount of harshness, darkness and impressiveness. One stare from him or one look at him, and you instantly know what Colm is going through. While we don’t see many supporting actors at the beginning, they get a more prominent role throughout the movie. This result in Keoghan (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) almost becoming the lead in this film because his performance as the funny, vulgar and lost Dominic is highly poignant and vulnerable. The stunning Condon (Gold) performance also brings more humanness and recognizable emotions to this movie.

An honest, brutal and dark portrayal of a broken friendship

After being praised at the Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and most recently, the BFI London Film Festival, The Banshees of Inisherin is now making its way to U.K. and Ireland. From the 21st of October, you will be able to watch an honest, brutal and dark portrayal of a broken friendship, told by an incredible writer and stunning performances, and we suggest you do it.

Rating: (4.5 / 5)

The Banshees of Inisherin will be released in U.K. and Irish cinemas on the 21st of October.

Also Read: The Films of Martin McDonagh

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Warning – McDonagh’s films are full of swearing and violence and, especially Three Billboards…, deal with very difficult subject matter. Also, some spoilers for each film are contained within the article.

In Bruges

For me, this is a contender for the greatest directorial debut of all time. Back in the long-long-ago, through the mists of time, Netflix used to actually deliver DVDs in the post. You couldn’t even pick which film you wanted but had to have a list of films and prioritise them – I fudged the list as much as I could to get this film as soon as possible. I watched it twice in two days, exceeding my already high expectations. The film is a story of two gangster hitmen sent to lie-low after a job went wrong, and bizarrely, sent to Bruges. Colin Farrell stars in a career-best performance as Ray who seemingly is the happy-go-lucky of the pair but is also weighed down with something terrible that is eventually revealed to be that during the last job he accidentally shot and killed a child. The film is a superb black comedy but at its heart it’s a story of redemption – what is Ray to do with his life now? How can he make things right? Is that possible? Brendan Gleeson is the experienced gangster, Ken, sent along on the mission and now trapped with Ray in Bruges. Amazingly the third main character, Ralph Fiennes’ Harry doesn’t appear until half-way through the film. All three main actors are astounding, Ray and Ken making as an odd double-act, with Harry being an over-the-top mob boss (Harry screaming at his wife, “You’re an inanimate f*****g object” and promptly apologising, insisting she isn’t, is gold). In true film-snob style, I have to cite Bruges itself as a character in the film. McDonagh has said that Ray and Ken exemplified his perception of the city when he first arrived, he was Ken, he loved it’s medieval beauty but quickly became Ray – bored as there is very little to do aside from sightseeing.

Seven Psychopaths

Following up In Bruges was never going to be easy. Farrell remained as the central character (playing an Irish scriptwriter named Marty), Gleeson and Fiennes were gone but the cast now boasted Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson, so a fair trade. The plot revolves around Marty trying to write a script he’s called Seven Psychopaths but doesn’t want it to be a cliched action film, despite calling it Seven Psychopaths. Aided and hindered in scriptwriting by his friend Billy (played by Rockwell, a professional dog-kidnapper); things get out of hand when Billy kidnaps a gangster’s dog who vows revenge. There is a lot going on in this film – perhaps too much, as well as just the action-comedy of the battle with the gangster there is an analysis of filmmaking and discussions thinking about religion, revenge and the power of stories. One memorable scene has Marty, Billy and Hans (Christopher Walken) discussing possible endings for Marty’s film, and despite Marty insisting he doesn’t want a traditional gunfight ending that is what Billy suggests. Billy’s ending is an insane shootout involving exploding heads, hidden crossbows and the escape of a pet rabbit/death of Marty’s girlfriend (leading to perhaps the film’s most memorable line “You can’t let the animals die in a movie… only the women”).

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

There have been criticisms that McDonagh’s films focus heavily on men, certainly, the women characters in his first two films are peripheral, I don’t know whether Three Billboards… is a response to that criticism but this film’s central character was Mildred, played by Frances McDormand. Whilst still a dark comedy the subject matter is far more serious than in previous films. Mildred is a woman in deep grief after the rape and murder of her teenage daughter; after the police have failed to solve the crime she rents three billboards, calling out the local police chief by name for his failure. The idea being that, as Mildred explains, a crime is more likely to be solved the longer it stays in the public consciousness.

A great film it also contains an unforgettable cinema-going experience for me – there is one hell of a punch to the gut as it reveals something Mildred said to her daughter before she was murdered where the cinema audience I was in gasped in shock and heartbreak or in some cases groaned in pain.

McDormand is brilliant and won a second Oscar for this performance and seems to have an almost unstoppable force of nature sense to her, she has no power, no money, no authority but she will make things happen. Harrelson is on great form as the weary police chief who seems genuinely heartbroken he has failed Mildred and her daughter and we also learn is dying of cancer. The fact that Mildred is well aware of both of these facts but pushes on regardless shows her determination. Perhaps the most complicated and controversial character is Dixon (played by Sam Rockwell), a deputy who sums up the worst of the American police force – brutally violent, racist and bullying anyone who stands up to him. Perhaps even worse the rest of the local force is well aware of Dixon’s problems but aren’t terribly bothered (and maybe are the same just better at hiding it) – Harrelson’s character even trots out the line that if they got rid of all of the racist cops, there would hardly be any cops. The reason Dixon’s character is so controversial is whether or not he has a redemptive arc and is that acceptable in a character who has done such terrible things. Personally I don’t think we’re meant to see Dixon as “redeemed”, I don’t think he’s meant to have changed and at best put aside his personal animosity for Mildred to try and achieve something important.

Not For Everyone…

McDonagh’s films are very dark comedies with even darker none comedic storylines going on underneath, and that’s difficult to get right, and certainly, these films aren’t going to be for everyone but have been some of my favourite films of recent years.

Also Read: The Anatomy of a Christopher Nolan Film

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