The Banshees of Inisherin

On a remote island off the coast of Ireland, Pádraic is devastated when his buddy Colm suddenly 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.

Martin McDonagh made the phenomenal In Bruges with Collin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, and now the trio is back with The Banshees of Inisherin, a melancholy dirge of a film about friendship, betrayal, and the quiet desperation of the comes with the realization of one’s own unremarkable existence, and it’s all done with wit and verve as sharp as a knife, and it’s a blade that cuts very deep.

Set on the Irish island of Inisherin in 1923, the film tells the story of two friends, Pádraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson), who are having a bit of a row. The problem is Padraic has no idea why they’re fighting, not until Colm finally and succinctly explains “I just don’t like you no more.”

Colm, feeing the weight of his utter lack of a mark on the world, tells Pádraic that he finds him dull, and that he’s got better things to do with his time, like compose songs on his fiddle for example. Colm tells Pádraic to leave him alone from now on, a thing that is not only difficult to do simply because of the very small community they live in, but the hurt and confused Pádraic finds it difficult to do as well, as he is desperate for answers and a way to make amends. Finally, Colm tells Pádraic that if he doesn’t leave him alone for good, Colm will cut off his own fingers, one by one. He threatens this as an illustration of just how dedicated he is to this new status quo, as cutting off his fingers will ultimately render him unable to even play his fiddle, the main thing he wants to do with his time now that they’re not friends, but that he will continue to do it, one by one, until Padraic relents and does as asked.

And when Pádraic doesn’t listen, Colm begins to make good on his threat. After that, well… shit goes a bit crazy, my friends, surprisingly, but also perhaps inevitably.

McDonagh initially gets you to side with Colm. Pádraic is a bit of a dipshit. He’s happy with his lot, sure, and not all that disagreeable, but he’s a dipshit all the same, and Colm has had enough. He just wants some peace, to set his own course, however meagerly, in the time he has left.

Is that so unreasonable?

But the thing is, Colm is a miserable piece of shit, depressed or not. The way he throws Pádraic aside shows this. The way he follows through on his insane threats when Pádraic tries to heal the breech between them shows that. The terrible harm that Colm’s follow-through causes Pádraic more than shows this. When Pádraic finally breaks, hurt beyond measure, and he turns on Colm, vowing, “To our graves we’re taking this. To one of our graves, anyway,” you are siding with Pádraic.

Get him, Pádraic. Fucking get him.

To me, for all of the things that this film is about, it’s mostly about how, at a certain point, the pain is too deep, the harm too severe, and that there is just no going back. It’s about how, at a certain point, you realize there was never actually a “back” to go back to. It’s about realizing that sometimes the people in our lives aren’t our friends, in fact, they were never our friends, but our enemies, and always have been.

The Banshees of Inisherin is a film about accepting this fact.

Loved it. Brilliant.

Also, it’s almost criminal to not mention Barry Keoghan’s performance. It’s a testament to how great the rest of the film is that he is merely an addendum to this review, but he’s god damn phenomenal. And so Kerry Condon. Phenomenal.