Banshees of Inisherin

This weekend was filled with more movies and as the weeks have progressed I come away with liking, truly enjoying about 1 in every 5 films we see. The last couple of weekends have been largely filled with disappointing movies that felt incomplete and like the filmmakers had no idea what their themes really were or how to execute them. I feel like I’ve been watching vague ideas of movies but never the real thing. This weekend there was finally a break in the disappointment.

Banshees of Inisherin was beautiful, brilliant, funny and full of heart. The best part of this film is though it clearly followed a three act structure, they were so well blended that transitioning from act to act wasn’t jarring let alone noticeable. They jump in right away with what this story is about and the relationships that will be used to tell it. We needed no set up or exposition and the characters were immediately relatable and endearing. From minute one I was captivated by the cinematography, humor and the characters themselves, the movie had my heart from act 1 and it never let go.

Padraic is just a guy that wants to live a nice, quiet life. He sees nothing beyond the island he’s living on and he is okay with that. His sister wants nothing more to get off the island, she’s bored and lonely and she wants more. His best friend wants a legacy, he wants to be remembered and he really doesn’t seem to care how he gets there. This story is really about their competing life ideologies working against each other and seeing how that affects their relationships with one another. Colm decides to cut Padraic out of his life, in order to focus on creating something that will outlive him, namely music. The performance from Brendan Gleeson is impeccable, you can see the internal conflict all over his face. Colm wants a legacy but he very clearly doesn’t want to hurt his friend. Colin Farrell was also incredible, giving a performance that truly made the audience feel for him.

The development of the story subverts expectations in a way that was still true to the characters and the world presented. Padraic just completely breaking after his sister leaves and his pony dies was actually really brilliant, because the only thing he really has left is this conflict with his old friend who has made it clear that he wants nothing to do with him. The ending is somewhat ambiguous which I love because it set up an ending and it allows the audience to fill in the blanks for themselves. And not in a way that's incomplete, it ends with hope. There were no loose ends, only things that were up for interpretation that could not be said for movies like Triangle of Sadness and TAR.

I think the best part of this film for me personally was the fact that it centered around a male friendship. That is something that is very rarely depicted in media. Lord of the Rings is one of the best examples but Banshees of Inisherin did something even better. They were able to fully explore male friendship against the backdrop of something completely real and mundane. There were no great wars to fight, nothing epic to bond them, only personal ideology and everyday life and conflict.

Overall the film earned a 9.5/10, leaving the extra half a point only because that is awarded to only perfect films, of which very few exist. But rewatchability is high and the film is extraordinary. One of my most recommended films of the year.