movie review the banshees of inisherin

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, the banshees of inisherin.

Now streaming on:

One thing I didn’t have on my lifetime cinematic bingo card—and I bet it is not on yours either—was Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson become the 21 st century’s answer to Laurel and Hardy. And yet. With 2008’s “ In Bruges ,” and now “The Banshees of Inisherin,” the Irish actors, under the writing and directing aegis of frequently pleasantly perverse Martin McDonagh , display a chemistry and virtuosic interplay that recalls nothing so much as the maestros of the early 20 th -century Comedy of Exasperation.

This being a McDonagh work, it’s a comedy of mortification as well as exasperation. It begins with a beautiful overhead shot of the title Irish island, all green below a clear blue sky (in this picture it only rains at night, which, considering actual weather patterns in Ireland, places the film in yet another genre, that of fantasy). The Carter Burwell score evokes idyllic times, and we see life is rather easy for Pádraic (Farrell) a milk farmer who lives with his sister in a modest cottage and, apparently, calls on his old friend Colm (Gleeson) just about every day at two. Before he sets out, he makes a remark about Colm to his sister Siobhán ( Kerry Condon ), who sarcastically replies, “Maybe he just don’t like you no more.”

This turns out to be a bit of inadvertent prophecy. Because Colm rebuffs Pádraic. Over the course of several discussions, we learn that Colm has come to find Pádraic dull (and the earnest fellow’s conversation is indeed limited, if amiable), and that he believes he’s got better things to do with his time, like compose songs on his fiddle. When Colm goes to confession at the island’s church, he reveals he’s also suffering from despair. He’s suffering from quite a bit more than that.

“Banshees” is set in 1923, and several times its characters discuss hearing guns going off on the not-too-far-away mainland. The conflict between Colm and Pádraic serves as a handy metaphor for Ireland’s Civil War at that time, but the movie works best when it doesn’t foreground that metaphor. Which becomes rather grisly, as a commentary on a particularly Irish kind of obstreperousness. As in: Colm tells Pádraic that if the latter continues to talk to Colm, or at Colm, after Colm’s made it clear that the doesn’t want Pádraic’s company or conversation, Colm will cut off one of his fingers. Now keep in mind that Colm’s a fiddler who wants to continue fiddling, so this is actually, as a strategy, a sight worse than cutting off one’s nose to spite his face.

And so, after Pádraic gets in Colm’s face again, Colm actually does it. One of the neatest tricks of the movie is how McDonagh leads the viewer to identify more with Colm than with Pádraic early on. One feels: yeah, this is a rude severing of friendship on Colm’s part, but why can’t Pádraic just let the guy be? Some of Colm’s points are well taken. Colm’s probably better for Pádraic than Dominic, the exceedingly rude policeman’s son who makes Pádraic look like an urbane conversationalist, but sometimes these are the breaks, social-life wise. But once the fingers begin coming off, your jaw slackens and your eyes pop. Where’s this going to end?

Nobody does self-loathing like the Irish, and with this film, McDonagh is on much surer footing than he was when trying to tell America a thing or two with his film “ Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ” in 2017. “Banshees” has got touches of tenderness that are sometimes ever-so-slightly confounding, as when Colm shows care for Pádraic after the latter gets a pasting from Dominic’s bastard cop father. Being the writer he is, he often counters those with bracing reality checks. And as a director, he orchestrates the give-and-take between Farrell and Gleeson with the mastery of someone who appreciates these performers as much as discerning audiences do. They let it fly; Farrell does some of his best acting with his furrowed eyebrows; Gleeson has a glare that’s both a death-ray and an enigma. The pauses these guys enact are at times even funnier than the verbal comebacks McDonagh has come up with for them. And as it happens, Barry Keoghan as Dominic almost steals the movie out from under the leads, his very funny vulgar brashness never quite camouflaging his character’s poignant vulnerability. Very good show all around.

This review was filed from the world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5th. It opens only in theaters on October 21st. 

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

Now playing

The Last Breath

Sheila O'Malley

Find Me Falling

Monica castillo.

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Rendy jones.

Brian Tallerico

Film Credits

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

Rated R for language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity.

109 minutes

Colin Farrell as Pádraic

Brendan Gleeson as Colm

Kerry Condon as Siobhán

Barry Keoghan as Dominic

• Martin McDonagh

Cinematographer

• Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
• Carter Burwell

Latest blog posts

I’ve Got A Way With Young People: 25 Years of Dick

The Unloved, Part 128: Cobweb

Shadow of the Erdtree Expands Scope of One of the Best Games of Its Era

Losers Win: Guardians of the Galaxy Turns 10

Advertisement

Supported by

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Review: Giving Your Friend the Finger

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play feuding frenemies in Martin McDonagh’s latest film, set on an Irish coast in 1923.

• Share full article

By A.O. Scott

The island of Inisherin, a rustic windswept rock off the coast of Ireland, does not appear on any real-world maps, but its geography is unmistakable. Not only because the sweaters and the sheep, the pints of Guinness and the thatched roofs bespeak a carefully curated Irish authenticity, but also because what happens on this island locates it firmly in an imaginary region that might be called County McDonagh.

This is a place, governed by the playful and perverse sensibility of the dramatist and filmmaker Martin McDonagh, where the picturesque and the profane intermingle, where jaunty humor keeps company with gruesome violence. The boundaries of the realm extend from Spokane, Wash ., to the Belgian city of Bruges by way of Missouri and various actual and notional Irish spots. “The Banshees of Inisherin,” McDonagh’s new film, embellishes the cartography without necessarily breaking new ground. It’s a good place to start if you’re new to his work, and cozily — which is also to say horrifically — familiar if you’re already a fan.

Other McDonagh hallmarks include a breakneck, swaybacked plot, by turns hilarious and grim, painted over with a nearly invisible varnish of sentimentality. It’s not necessary to believe what you see — it may, indeed, not be possible — but you can nonetheless find yourself beguiled by the wayward sincerity of the characters and touched by the sparks of humanity their struggles cast off. And impressed by the craft of the actors and the crew (which here includes the cinematographer Ben Davis, the composer Carter Burwell and the costume designer Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh). Perhaps above all, you are apt to be tickled, sometimes to gales of laughter, by the spray of verbal wit that characterizes the McDonagh dialect.

It’s 1923, though modernity has dawdled a bit en route to Inisherin, where rural life proceeds at its immemorial pace. On the mainland, the Irish Civil War drags on; distant gunfire can sometimes be heard across the water. The islanders pay it very little mind, and don’t see any point to taking a side. The local constable (Gary Lydon), a dull, violent brute and the closest thing to a pure villain this movie possesses, is pleased to have been recruited to assist in an execution. He doesn’t know or care whether the National Army or the I.R.A. is responsible for the killing. He’s content to gawk and get paid.

“Banshees,” in any case, is concerned with an intensely local conflict, between Padraic (Colin Farrell), a sociable cow herder, and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), a melancholy fiddler. They have been drinking together nearly every afternoon at the local shebeen for as long as anyone can remember, until Colm abruptly and unilaterally declares an end to their friendship. “I just don’t like you no more,” he tells Padraic, who responds with wounded incredulity.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘the banshees of inisherin’ review: colin farrell and brendan gleeson reunite with martin mcdonagh in vintage form.

Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan also star in this dark comedy premiering in the Venice competition, about the abrupt breakup of lifelong friends, sparking violence, suffering and self-reflection.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

Related Stories

Kevin costner's 'horizon: an american saga - chapter 2' to get venice world premiere, tilda swinton to narrate interactive adhd documentary 'impulse', the banshees of inisherin.

The film reunites Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson , whose difference in age, physicality and character type makes for a Beckettian pairing that brings out the best in both actors, as it did in McDonagh’s 2008 debut feature, In Bruges . They lead a ruminative ensemble piece that expertly balances the tragicomic with the macabre, inhabiting territory adjacent to McDonagh’s stage work yet also sweepingly cinematic. The latter factor owes much to the soulful widescreen cinematography of Ben Davis, bringing a mythic quality to the rugged landscapes, and to Carter Burwell’s full-bodied, mood-shifting score, one of his loveliest.

McDonagh’s gift for flavorful dialogue and character is on display from the swift set-up, when Pádraic (Farrell) turns up at the lonely fisherman’s cottage of his lifelong friend Colm (Gleeson) for their regular 2 p.m. pub date and is perplexed by his cold reception. The older man sits inside smoking in brooding silence, clearly visible through the window but offering no explanation for his refusal to acknowledge Pádraic’s presence.

The mystifying rejection weighs heavily on Pádraic at the bar, where questions about his friend’s absence from the publican, Jonjo (Pat Shortt), rub salt into the wound. “Why wouldn’t he answer the door to me?” Pádraic asks his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) at the home they share with his beloved miniature donkey, Jenny (a scene-stealer to rival the title character of Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO .)

The next day back at the pub, Colm tells Pádraic to sit somewhere else but confirms that the younger man has said or done nothing to upset him: “I just don’t like you no more.” Gleeson’s heavy countenance conveys the cost to Colm even of minimally justifying his actions, but after much insistent prodding from Pádraic in the days that follow, he admits to finding him dull. “But he’s always been dull,” protests Siobhán. “What’s changed?”

While the setting is 1923 and this intimate conflict plays out against the backdrop of cannons and gunfire heard from the Civil War raging on the mainland, McDonagh teases out the humor in the former friends’ schism. This is especially the case in Farrell’s wrenchingly funny-sad performance as this sweet-natured, intellectually incurious man is forced for what seems the first time to think about his limitations. Telling himself that he’s “nice, not dull,” Pádraic becomes convinced Colm is depressed and needs his help. His clumsy interventions make Colm resort to drastic, self-mutilating measures to persuade Pádraic that he’s deadly serious.

The notion of a 1920s Irish farmer (Pádraic keeps a handful of cows to supply milk to the general store) discussing depression seems as unlikely as terms like “tough love” and “nutbag” being in the vernacular. But McDonagh imbues the tale with a timeless dimension in keeping with the rocky cliff faces, the icy sea and overcast skies of its atmospheric setting.

While the ghostly folkloric creatures of the title are not literally represented, the ghoulish, black-clad crone Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton) seems to thrive on doom. “A death shall come, maybe even two deaths,” she intones with what sounds like malicious pleasure.

The ripple effect of Pádraic and Colm’s bust-up touches everyone in different ways — the gossipy shopkeeper (Bríd Ní Neachtain) who demands news like it’s the only currency she accepts; the priest (David Pearse) who comes to the island each week to say Mass, hear Confession and bite back when challenged; the mean-spirited cop (Gary Lydon) who regularly drowns his frustrations in hooch and takes out his rage on his son Dominic ( Barry Keoghan ) with abuse of various kinds. Even the peaceful gathering place of the pub is violated by tension.

While he’s not the brightest spark and has a blithe disregard for the standard social filters, Dominic is more perceptive than anyone gives him credit for. He has a touching openness about him, particularly when making nervous, self-effacing overtures of courtship toward Siobhán, one of the few times she drops her brittle detachment. Keoghan takes this small role and invests every line with as much delicate pathos as humorous eccentricity. It’s a wonderfully odd performance, no less essential to the film’s onion-like emotional layers than those of Farrell and Gleeson.

Periodic scenes in which Pádraic uses Dominic as a sounding board for his sorrow are especially tender. Farrell strikes a fine balance between exasperation with the policeman’s son and an aching need to fill the friendship void created by Colm’s withdrawal from his life.

The sense of place envelops the viewer in every frame. Davis captures the exterior scenes (shot on Inishmore, in the Aran Islands) in somber natural light, with candles and gaslight for the interiors, as befits an area where electricity would not have arrived until the 1970s. And Mark Tildesley’s production design is rich in detail, from Pádraic and Siobhán’s rustic family farmhouse to the time-worn pub to Colm’s cottage, its walls and ceiling hung with musical instruments, masks, puppets and other artsy finds that speak to his cultural interests transcending this remote place.

Throughout the film, McDonagh flirts knowingly with the absurd and the grotesque, punctuating the story with his customary jolts of creative violence and stealthily building suspense. But for all its wit, its lively talk and deceptive lightness, this is arguably the writer-director’s most affecting work. The devastating arcs of Farrell and Gleeson’s performances — two men once bonded in easy companionship, both of them eventually turned inward with glowering implacability — seed a despair that, in the end, affords them a perverse kind of mutual comfort.

The acceptance of sadness as part of life seems like something that comes only with age, which suggests McDonagh was right to sit on this title all those years, until he could dredge up characters and a story to do it justice.  

Full credits

Thr newsletters.

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Hugh jackman details reuniting with ke huy quan 24 years after working together on ‘x-men’, zack snyder breaks down ‘rebel moon’ director’s cuts and the implication of that ‘300’ prequel series, wesley snipes’ blade breaks two guinness world records, ‘the neverending story’ turns 40: film’s team on casting “real kids” and the planned reboot, disney makes major play for 2027 movie calendar, tom blyth, emily bader to star in netflix and 3000 pictures adaptation of emily henry book ‘people we meet on vacation’.

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Review: Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson Reunite for a Darkly Comic, Devastating Feud Between Friends

Martin McDonagh returns to the mythic brute poetry of his theater work for a study of men undone both by loneliness and kinship — the result is his richest, most moving film.

By Guy Lodge

Film Critic

• Why ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Is the Year’s Most Depressing Success Story 2 days ago
• ‘Widow Clicquot’ Review: Haley Bennett Plays a Champagne Trailblazer In a Biopic More Still Than Sparkling 2 weeks ago
• ‘A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things’ Review: A Great British Artist’s Legacy Is Thawed and Reexamined 4 weeks ago

Related Stories

Reality check: summer hot streak won’t dig u.s. box office out of deep hole in 2024, songwriters are getting screwed by streaming even worse than they’d thought, new study shows, popular on variety.

For Pádraic, a simple but sensitive type, this snub reduces his social circle to a mere dot — perhaps a short line if you include amiable village idiot Dominic (Barry Keoghan, his gangly physique and charcoal-sketched features never put to more guileless use), which nobody really does. Orphaned and unmarried, Pádraic shares his parents’ scruffy old home with his beloved donkey Jenny and his older sister Siobhan (a revelatory Kerry Condon), a nurturing, bookish woman who has never really found her people on this desolate, unkind island. It’s a protective Siobhan who manages to tease out of Colm the reason for his abrupt termination of his and Pádraic’s friendship: he finds the younger man dull, has more or less run out of things to say to him, and would prefer the company of his fiddle and his devoted border collie.

Unsurprisingly reluctant to take such an explanation lying down, Pádraic decides he’s been a casualty of Colm’s escalating depression, and brightly resolves to claw his way back into his ex-friend’s affections. His charm offensive is halted, however, when Colm issues a macabre ultimatum that vaults a simple estrangement to the level of an eccentric two-man blood feud. What begins as a doleful, anecdotal narrative becomes something closer to mythic in its rage and resonance: McDonagh has long fixated on the most visceral, vengeful extremes of human behavior, but never has he formed something this sorely heartbroken from that fascination. 

There’s much talk here of “niceness,” which has never been this filmmaker’s default setting: Pádraic prides himself on it, while Colm, whose had a decade or so longer on the planet to tire of social niceties, has come to see it as an overrated virtue. McDonagh’s script has sympathy for both, while audiences may find themselves intriguingly split. There’s a kind of admirable, self-knowing integrity in Colm’s simple, increasingly obsessive desire to be alone; Pádraic’s terror of being left alone himself, especially as Siobhan wistfully eyes a life beyond the island, is just as understandable. Condon, wry and warm but no twinkly, benevolent cypher, makes Siobhan the one character who can credibly empathize with both men. She gets one exquisite scene, too, with the wonderful Keoghan’s sweetly wounded Dominic, rebuffing a clumsy advance with an unimpeachable gentleness that’s in short supply on this island.

After a teasingly postcard-bright intro — which sets up an Emerald Isle ideal of verdant fields, rainbows and sunlight skittering across the ocean, soon to be bluntly shattered — McDonagh crafts an Ireland where despair, for everyone, is something to be managed rather than beaten. Ben Davis’s lensing washes even the characters’ best days in raincloud grays; Mark Tildesley’s production design trades in cramped, muddy spaces shorn of ornamental detail. 

It makes for a story world seemingly drained of tenderness, in which every character is either single, widowed or otherwise alone; Pádraic and Colm’s now-bloodied friendship was perhaps the purest thing in it. As Colm insists to the priest that he’s never had “impure thoughts about men,” it’s tempting to consider a queer undertow to the bond that was, though the truth is that the two warring men never seem much like soulmates — simply the next best thing on a isle short of souls. It’s the loss even of such modest mercies that makes McDonagh’s quietly magnificent film so caustically, hauntingly and sometimes raucously sad.

Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Competition), Sept. 5, 2022. Running time: 114 MIN.

• Production: (Ireland-U.K.-U.S.) A Searchlight Pictures presentation in association with Film4, TSG Entertainment of a Blueprint Pictures production. Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh. Executive producers: Diarmuid McKeown, Ben Knight, Daniel Battsek, Ollie Madden. Co-producers: Jo Homewood, James Flynn, Morgan O'Sullivan.
• Crew: Director, screenplay: Martin McDonagh. Camera: Ben Davis. Editor: Mikkel E.G. Nielsen. Music: Carter Burwell.
• With: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan, Pat Shortt, Gary Lydon, David Pearse, Sheila Flitton.

More from Variety

Youtube q2 ad revenue hits $8.66 billion, up 13%, short of wall street expectations, paramount+ biggest challenge: boosting subscriber engagement, google pulls controversial ‘dear sydney’ gemini ai ad from nbc olympics rotation after backlash: ‘who wants an ai-written fan letter’, licensing your movie & tv content for ai training: can you should you, more from our brands, stray kids ‘ate,’ sza and zedd drop new songs at lollapalooza day two, holy smoke an ultra-cool ‘batcave’ in chicago just hit the market for $2.5 million, olympics’ 81 nba players highlight league’s global investment, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, i’ve seen the ill-fated middle spinoff centered on sue heck — and i have a lot of thoughts.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Banshees of Inisherin

Two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them. Two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them. Two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.

• Martin McDonagh
• Colin Farrell
• Brendan Gleeson
• Kerry Condon
• 1.1K User reviews
• 354 Critic reviews
• 87 Metascore
• 146 wins & 362 nominations total

Top cast 20

• Pádraic Súilleabháin

• Colm Doherty

• Siobhán Súilleabháin

• Jonjo Devine
• Peadar Kearney

• Dominic Kearney
• Mrs. McCormick
• Older Musician 1
• Older Musician 2
• Female Singer
• (as Lasairfhíona Ní Chonaola)

• Mrs. O'Riordan

• Student Musician 1
• Student Musician 2
• Student Musician 3
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Colin Farrell Reunites With Brendan Gleeson

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia All of the main characters' sweaters were made by the same elderly woman, Delia Barry. She knitted them by hand specifically for the film, including doubles for each sweater. She was not present on set, and did not meet the actors prior to creating the pieces for them. Barry stated one of Colin Farrell's sweaters took 100 hours to complete.
• Goofs In the first scene in Colm's cottage, an old phonograph with a horn is seen, and heard playing a record. The record is spinning at 33 1/3 RPM, instead of 78 RPM, which was the ONLY speed used to play records in the early 1920's. The slower speed was not used until LP records were introduced in the late 1940s.

Priest : Do you think God gives a damn about miniature donkeys, Colm?

Colm Doherty : I fear he doesn't. And I fear that's where it's all gone wrong.

• Connections Featured in CBC News: Toronto: Episode dated 16 September 2022 (2022)
• Soundtracks The Banshees of Inisherin Written and Performed by Brendan Gleeson Performances also include Conor Connolly , James Carty , and Ryan Owens

User reviews 1.1K

• Athanatos173
• Dec 13, 2022
• How long is The Banshees of Inisherin? Powered by Alexa
• What does "The Banshees of Inisherin" mean?
• November 4, 2022 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Official site
• Official site (United Kingdom)
• Los espíritus de la isla
• Inishmore, Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland
• Searchlight Pictures
• Blueprint Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $10,582,266
• Oct 23, 2022
• $49,262,687

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 54 minutes
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 78% Deadpool & Wolverine Link to Deadpool & Wolverine
• 97% Sing Sing Link to Sing Sing
• 96% Dìdi Link to Dìdi

New TV Tonight

• 98% Batman: Caped Crusader: Season 1
• 100% Women in Blue: Season 1
• 81% A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: Season 1
• 83% Cowboy Cartel: Season 1
• 80% Futurama: Season 12
• -- Unsolved Mysteries: Season 4
• -- Unstable: Season 2
• -- Hotel Portofino: Season 3
• -- Betrayal: The Perfect Husband: Season 2

Most Popular TV on RT

• 80% Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• 49% Those About to Die: Season 1
• 66% The Decameron: Season 1
• 100% Supacell: Season 1
• 78% Presumed Innocent: Season 1
• 80% Time Bandits: Season 1
• 76% Lady in the Lake: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• 98% Batman: Caped Crusader: Season 1 Link to Batman: Caped Crusader: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Every Certified Fresh Movie & Show in July 2024

The Best Shows on Amazon Prime Video to Watch Right Now (August 2024)

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

New Movies and TV Shows Streaming In August 2024: What to Watch on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Max and more

Trap First Reviews: Josh Hartnett Powers a Surprisingly Straightforward Thriller

• Trending on RT
• <em>Trap</em> First Reviews
• Popular Complete Series
• Streaming in August
• Movies on Tubi
• Upcoming Marvel Movies

The Banshees of Inisherin Reviews

The comedy is a veil for deep, complex themes that give “The Banshees of Inisherin” humour and pathos. Among these are measured explorations on toxic masculinity, loneliness, and purpose.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 15, 2024

It’s a film that merrily embraces fairy tale elements, enveloping us in a grim fable where good and bad are murky concepts at best.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 3, 2024

Through the story of two friends, Martin McDonagh also tells a tale of an everyman who has to wrestle with the idea of being forgotten while continuing to dredge through life and grapple with innumerable absurdities that govern it.

Full Review | Jun 11, 2024

“The Banshees of Inisherin” does a superb job of empathizing with Padraic. He bears the burden of uncertainty and questioning his reality.

Full Review | Jun 8, 2024

There are no missteps here, and it is, without a doubt, the best movie of the year for my money.

Full Review | Feb 28, 2024

Raw and weird, it’s a mordant fable of friendship gone sour that will have you questioning your own mortality while simultaneously making you laugh until it makes you cry.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2024

Dominic is the most tragic character in an island of pure, untempered tragedy.

Full Review | Jan 29, 2024

The greatest tragedy of all is that one of the friends will sacrifice what made them special, only to become another banshee of Inisherin.

Full Review | Dec 29, 2023

A dark comedy, at times with a great dramatic component, that explores human relationships and interpersonal communication with a lot of charisma and in a highly entertaining way. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 19, 2023

McDonagh finds the perfect moments to insert humor, but the film’s comedic turns often serve to underscore the scope of the tragedy.

Full Review | Oct 26, 2023

A fascinating examination of male loneliness and hurt feelings.

Full Review | Sep 13, 2023

McDonagh uses the conflict between Pádraic and Colm to serve as a metaphor for the Irish Civil War. Brother against brother. Friends against friends. Their friendship loses itself in the fables of Inisherin forever.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2023

Its heartbreak is as potent as its comedy, both intertwined with the rhythms of the dialogue.

Full Review | Sep 5, 2023

It's delightful to watch these two character actors go back and forth...These two actors [Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson] are at the top of their game.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Aug 10, 2023

Colin Farrell’s performances lifts this quirk and dark comedy from Martin McDonagh.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 9, 2023

The Banshees of Inisherin, as the title implies, is about death, both literal and figurative, but it’s the sad demise of a friendship that forms the bedrock of this brilliant, often poignant, frequently funny Irish fable.

Full Review | Jul 26, 2023

Strikingly funny and heartbreakingly honest, Martin McDonagh returns to form by telling the tale of a non-romantic breakup, the sadness of being dumped, and the tricky business of dumping someone.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 25, 2023

Martin McDonagh explores the painful part of human relationships by finding the comedy and gore contained within.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

The Banshees of Inisherin is brilliant beyond belief. Darkly Hilarious, emotional, & Richly layered with themes of fate, friendship, & death. Colin & Brendan were stunning! Martin McDonagh though might of just directed & wrote his best film of his career

The Banshees of Inisherin fluctuates from deeply sad to darkly humorous, a mirror of life itself.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

Filed under:

The Banshees of Inisherin is 2022’s funniest, darkest comedy

This In Bruges reunion feels like staring into an abyss reflected in a funhouse mirror

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: The Banshees of Inisherin is 2022’s funniest, darkest comedy

The Banshees of Inisherin is a return to familiar territory for writer-director Martin McDonagh: It plays like a spiritual sequel to his pitch-black 2008 comedy-thriller In Bruges . That film, McDonagh’s feature debut, stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as hitmen hiding out in a version of Bruges designed to feel like Catholic purgatory. Farrell and Gleeson also lead Banshees , another whip-smart, wryly amusing tale driven by existential dread. This time around, they play much simpler men — a farmer and a musician, respectively — but they have the same anguish as their assassin counterparts, resulting in a film that maintains a spiritual vice grip over its audience, in spite of the charming setting.

Eventually, McDonagh (most recently the writer-director of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ) attempts to ground his abstract themes about mortality in the literal details of the story, causing the tension to dissipate. But the movie is such a rich, emotionally detailed text that not sticking the landing is only a minor mark against it.

Shot on the Irish islands of Inishmore and Achill — which stand in for the fictitious isle of Inisherin — the film feels both timeless and picturesque. Angelic choir notes score the opening scene, which follows Pádraic Súilleabháin (Farrell) on a routine stroll along Inisherin’s lush trails in the early 20th century. He’s checking in on his pal Colm Doherty (Gleeson) to invite him to the local pub for a pint, per their usual routine. But the quaint vision of paradise doesn’t last. Without spending even a moment on their backstory, McDonagh paints a vivid portrait of a friendship that has inexplicably crumbled, since Colm has decided — seemingly overnight — that he wants absolutely nothing to do with Pádraic, and he isn’t afraid to be blunt about it.

Pádraic, bewildered by Colm’s sudden rebuffs, can’t help but follow up and keep checking in with him, despite everyone’s advice to the contrary. This is where things take a macabre turn. To keep Pádraic away for good, Colm threatens to cut off one finger from his own fiddle hand every time Pádraic tries to speak with him.

Every scene is staged with an eye toward emotional repression, and an ear toward rhythmic dialogue and its subtext about death and what lies beyond — the exact same driving forces that made In Bruges so captivating. McDonagh keeps a keen focus on Farrell’s bemused attempts to put two and two together. His journey from denial to realization engenders sympathy, as he tries to make sense of a relationship thrown into sudden disarray, and deals with the lurking possibility that closure may forever remain out of reach. Each desperate attempt to find answers is just as much about discerning Colm’s motives as it is about Pádraic sussing out potential truths about himself. Who among us has not wondered what we’ve done so wrong that has made us so deserving of someone else’s ire?

But even once these cards seem to be laid on the table, Farrell’s construction of Pádraic continues to work in tandem with McDonagh’s winding text. Colm, a self-professed artist, would rather spend time writing music instead of making idle conversation, though it takes a while for him to get around to expressing his real reasoning. In the meantime, Farrell’s performance reflects shades of the potential accusations and implications of Colm’s cold shoulder. Is Colm too much of an intellectual for Pádraic? Is Pádraic too naive? Was there some drunken insult or slight he doesn’t fully remember?

Whatever the case, Farrell’s quiet moments paint Pádraic as an easily amused man who maintains a touching friendship with his farm animals. But Farrell truly shines in the way he deepens even Pádraic’s most seemingly one-note traits. He layers each idiosyncrasy with a recognizable innocence as Pádraic begins to introspect. His conversational drive is polite and superficial, but it’s bolstered by a seeming inability to string together the right words, or connect the dots between two successive thoughts or emotions, even when they’re full and rich. He’s always searching, more than the average person should. Then again, despite Colm’s more put-together facade, he’s always searching too. (Frequently at confession at the local church, where he’s too dismissive of his gossipy priest to find real enlightenment or self-reflection.)

Pádraic’s heartbreaking quest for answers is an uphill battle, especially when he begins to interrogate the movie’s rich tapestry of side characters — Pádraic’s educated sister Siobhán (a measured Kerry Condon), town simpleton Dominic ( Killing of a Sacred Deer ’s Barry Keoghan, throwing his hat in the ring as a modern Peter Lorre), and other pub-goers, who ride a fine line between unconfrontational and nosy. All of them seem to get along with Colm just fine, which leaves Pádraic adrift, wondering whether he really is to blame for the fallout. It’s hard not to be convinced by Gleeson’s quietly menacing delivery, with harsh whispers that turn even desperate pleas for isolation into adversarial threats.

Both men withhold with their emotions, but Farrell and Gleeson are such generous performers that their real-life friendship infects each frame. It makes the characters’ subdued affinity for each other feel all the more tragic once the friend-breakup is set in motion. This is especially evident during evenings at the pub, where the camera catches hesitant glances between them, as Colm plays music and Pádraic drinks away his sorrows. Those glimpses imbue the film with a borderline romantic warmth, which cinematographer Ben Davis paints with the dim flickers of candle- and lamplight.

Meanwhile, the seemingly timeless setting turns out to be very specific indeed. Explosions on the mainland, off in the distance, reveal the movie’s historical backdrop: the Irish Civil War in the early 1920s. The actual violence never touches Inisherin’s shores, and there’s certainly a case to be made that the film’s tale of brother turning against brother is a metaphor for the conflict, albeit a flimsy one. However, the encroaching doom and gloom places the characters’ mortality front and center. Colm doesn’t come right out and say it, but his sudden desire to create and to be remembered, like his idol Mozart, feels directly informed by the looming specter of death. (Or in the Irish folklore the film lightly touches on, the banshee.) And Colm is weighed down by a self-sabotaging streak that’s amusing but disturbing, given his threat to maim himself.

Both men are forced to reflect on themselves, and on what they bring to those around them — one through larger political events, and the other through personal grievance. The more these reflections yield wildly opposing results, the more Pádraic and Colm’s encounters become a breeding ground for festering tensions about how to move through the modern world when all seems lost. Colm wants to create. Pádraic simply wants to exist. In the face of death and loneliness, perhaps neither of these choices is better than the other.

McDonagh funnels all these philosophical musings through his stage sensibility, and his penchant for the ebb and flow of words. He often captures these verbal and emotional rhythms by racking focus between characters, rather than cutting between them, as if the film’s visual aesthetic were its own enrapturing melody. The actual music swings in the opposite direction, with Carter Burwell adding a sense of mischief and mystery through strings plucked a little too aggressively, as if Colm is weaving the film’s aural fabric while trying to fend off Pádraic’s advances.

The film uses humorous repetition to deal with its mournful weight, and to hammer home the sheer strangeness of its premise, resulting in one of the most darkly funny films of 2022. But McDonagh can’t quite find the right way to string all his heavy themes together once he enters its final act. As the story unfolds, the absurdist playwright in McDonagh comes rushing to the fore in a way it hasn’t in any of his films since In Bruges . Banshees maintains shades of the dark humor he brought to his 2001 stage play The Lieutenant of Inishmore , which, while set in the early ’90s, also unfolds against the backdrop of sectarian Irish conflict, and similarly features an animal-loving protagonist named Pádraic. The problem, however, arises when McDonagh tries to graft the play’s Pádraic, and his violent emotional trajectory, onto his more restrained movie counterpart, when the two have little in common but their name.

As McDonagh tries to put words to his ethereal themes of mortality and remembrance in The Banshees of Inisherin , it winds up reading like an attempt to ground intangible spiritual dilemmas in concrete reasoning and definitive emotional paths. That mostly comes via a last-minute coincidence that feels largely disconnected from its characters. All of which makes the story more didactic and moralizing than the first two acts suggest it’s going to be.

Still, it’s surprisingly appropriate that the film should lose its way while trying to express the inexpressible, and trying to put words to emotions that Colm struggles to express. It’s hard to know how to talk about the lingering fear of how we’ll be remembered by the future once we’ve become the past. And until it strays off course, it remains a nuanced expression of this idea in the present, causing its characters to curdle and contort as they begin to believe they’re running out of time.

No one in this film is a wholly good person. Practically everyone is mean or irreverent in some way. What makes it such a riveting watch is their constant search for some semblance of goodness, understanding, or sense in a place and moment where little of those things exist. With its striking tonal balance, rich performances, and layered introspections, The Banshees of Inisherin represents McDonagh at his optimum, creating a complex work that captures the strange spectrum of human emotions experienced at death’s front door.

The Banshees of Inisherin opens in theaters in limited release on Oct. 21, with a national rollout to follow over the next few weeks.

The Banshees of Inisherin Review

Friend vs fiddle..

The Banshees of Inisherin releases in theaters on Oct. 21, 2022.

Gunfire and cannons of the Irish Civil War rage on the west coast of Ireland in The Banshees of Inisherin. Still, that conflict remains on the periphery of Martin McDonagh’s follow-up to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri . The writer-director focuses our attention on another civil war, more personal and increasingly psychological, brewing between two long-time best friends Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) on the fictional island of Inisherin in 1923. It’s the type of isolated isle where homesteads are sparse but beautiful vistas are plenty, which cinematographer Ben Davies introduces elegantly in the opening scenes. Wide shots take in the naturally gorgeous greens, blues, and browns of this coastal community, setting a lovely backdrop for this darkly funny and dramatic tale of friendship.

On Inisherin everybody knows each other, everybody knows your business, and the routine of intensely local life keeps everyone ticking along until the clock strikes death. At 2 pm everyday, Pádraic eagerly, earnestly, knocks for Colm and the two head to the pub for a pint or five of the black stuff. When Colm one day chooses to coldly ignore his call, Pádraic’s circle are bemused by the slight, from his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) to JonJo the pub landlord (Pat Shortt). It’s in these early interactions that McDonagh cements the small-town humor; the quickly delivered back and forths earn several cackles. It provides a grounded yet gossipy tension that builds with biting force as the ambiguity of the rebuff becomes ever more explicit.

Pádraic’s amiability and good nature are intrinsic but slowly warped by this one-sided breakup. Farrell demonstrates this simple man’s torment with a brow so frequently furrowed that the pain of Colm’s rejection for being “dull” is almost too uncomfortable to take in – especially as his unwillingness to accept the snub leads to ever more dire and spiteful consequences. There’s something rather remarkable about Farrell’s thick eyebrows that they take you on as much of an emotional journey as the rest of the actor’s body does. It’s when this despairing look is framed in a window, looking in or out at his former best friend, that the increasing distance between the two men is ever more calcified.

Farrell plays Pádraic as an open book while Gleeson’s Colm is almost impenetrable. He’s such an enigmatic presence in the village that both the kindest and the cruelest want to be his drinking buddy yet he rarely gives anything away thanks to the hard face that accompanies him at nearly every moment. Colm’s cold silence might be exasperating to watch as Farrell’s puppy dog Pádraic seeks answers and acknowledgement but Gleeson’s steely delivery of McDonagh’s dialogue causes blunt force trauma to the soul.

What's the best Colin Farrell movie?

Condon’s exasperated Siobhan is a welcome respite to the masculine folly at play. The main thrust of the film might center on Pádraic (mostly) and Colm but her relatable affection for and frustration with the prideful men she’s surrounded by – as well as Inisherin’s limited opportunities for an intelligent woman such as herself – is a subplot that warranted more attention. Barry Keoghan, meanwhile, reinforces his penchant for creepy characters in Dominic, yet there’s far more to his doltish son of the island’s brutish police officer. Underneath the slurry enunciation and awkward candor, Keoghan tenderly reveals a man in as much, if not more, pain than his compatriots.

The film’s title shares its name with the musical piece Colm is determined to compose for the sake of his legacy and Gleeson's nifty fiddling skills are put to strong use. The folksy element of Carter Burwell's plucky score has its own sense of humor. Then there are the atmospheric choral voices bolstering a cloud of ominous melancholy over proceedings as well as a pagan undercurrent contrasting with the Catholic imagery and hypocrisy, personified mostly by Sheila Flitton’s flinty widow Mrs. McCormick. The Banshees of Inisherin is a welcome reunion of McDonagh with Farrell and Gleeson; all three are in sharp form in a blackly funny harangue of masculinity, legacy, and humanity.

Colin Farrell plumbs emotional and comedic depths in Martin McDonagh’s witty and wistful period drama, with Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan on solid supporting duty. Set against the stunning vistas of Ireland, The Banshees of Inisherin tells an effective and corrosive tale of friendship.

In This Article

Where to Watch

More Reviews by Hanna Ines Flint

Ign recommends.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes
• Movie Reviews

The Banshees of Inisherin review: A friendship turns into a feud overnight

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are best friends suddenly on the outs in Martin McDonagh's brilliant, serrated black comedy.

It's been nearly 15 years since Martin McDonagh made his feature directorial debut with In Bruges , a neat, nasty little gem of a movie about two bungling hitmen ( Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson ) on the lam — and not doing it well — in Belgium. The Banshees of Inisherin reunites him with his two leading men in a film that turns out to be pretty much the furthest thing from a sequel to Bruges , but still feels like a kind of homecoming nonetheless. And a testament, too, to how they've each evolved as artists: A prolific playwright whose last screen outing, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, won Oscars for both Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, McDonagh has always been known for his particular brand of bleak existential comedy. Tar-black, bloody, and tinged with the surreal, it can also come off as ruthless, even casually cruel. Inisherin , though, feels like his most humane and deeply felt offering to date — which says a lot about a movie rife with blasphemy, self-mutilation, and miniature donkeys — and the actors here respond accordingly with some of the richest, most fully realized performances of their careers.

It's 1923 on a small windblown island off the coast of Ireland, and Pádraic (Farrell) seems like a happy-enough creature of habit: He lives in a modest cottage with his wry, bookish sister, Siobhán ( Better Call Saul 's Kerry Condon), tends to a small stable of animals, and meets his best mate Colm (Gleeson) regularly for pints at the local pub. That is, until the day Colm announces that he no longer wants to get pints, ever again. Life is too short, and Pádraic is too dull; Colm would prefer to be left alone with his dog and his fiddle, and maybe write a piece of music that actually means something before he dies. This abrupt change of heart isn't just bewildering for Pádraic, it's entirely destabilizing. Who is he, if not the man who gets pints with Colm?

Banshees , with its Kelly-green vistas, warbled shanties, and blithe obscenities ("feck" is a noun, an adjective, and sometimes a verb),could easily come off as the kind of Irish burlesque we've seen many times before; instead, the movie turns out to invert cliché as much as it embraces it. Inisherin may not be a hotbed for making new friends, but it's still a place rife with outsize characters: the local "idjit," Dominic ( Dunkirk 's puckish Barry Keoghan ) and his abusive constable father (Gary Lydon); the blustery parish priest (David Pearse); an elderly neighbor so wizened and witchy she looks like she might have once shared a staff with Gandalf. Their dialogue unfurls in Mcdonagh's signature rhythms, a sort of profane poetry that skitters between farce and calamity, often within the same sentence.

The cast tasked with it is masterful, from Keoghan's holy fool to Condon's long-suffering Siobhán, a nervy, sharp-witted woman stranded in a sea of petty grievances and grown adolescents. Farrell — alternately bruised, defiant, achingly sincere, and also very funny — wears the sum of his years here with fresh significance; he's still almost obscenely handsome, but there's a depth of feeling that could only come from lived experience, and a tender, shaggy gravitas in Gleeson too. Their falling out, of course, is not just about pints, or Pádraic's little house donkey that he keeps by his side like a border collie. To be corny, which the film (due in theaters Oct. 21) is decidedly not, it's about life: the brevity of it, the risks we do or don't take, who we choose to share it with in the end. And for all the gall, absurdity, and outright threats of physical violence, it's pretty feckin' wonderful. Grade: A–

Related content:

• 2023 Oscars heat index: Brendan Fraser, Cate Blanchett bound ahead as major acting contenders
• The mightiest movies at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival
• The Whale review: Brendan Fraser shines in a overwrought, underbaked drama
• Causeway review: Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry find loneliness together in a modest, moving indie

Related Articles

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Movie Reviews

Movie review: 'the banshees of inisherin'.

Bob Mondello

Writer and director Martin McDonagh reunited with "In Bruges" stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in his new drama-comedy, "The Banshees of Inisherin."

Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Culture | Film

The Banshees of Inisherin movie review: Martin McDonagh’s latest with Colin Farrell is awe-inspiring

It’s 1923 and Padraic Suilleabhain (an adorable Colin Farrell ) is a donkey-loving farmer, living on a remote isle, off the West Coast of Ireland. Padraic suspects he’s the second biggest idiot in the village. He may be flattering himself. He is also viciously astute when drunk and prone to acts of lunacy, and Farrell ensures every aspect of this protean eejit rings true.

The Banshees of Inisherin reunites the star with Martin McDonagh and Brendan Gleeson (the trio worked together on In Bruges) and Barry Keoghan (his co-star in The Killing of a Sacred Deer). Farrell is clearly amongst friends. Yet there’s nothing parochial about his performance. For decades, he’s been described as the Irish Brad Pitt. The Irish De Niro. The Irish Jack Nicholson. It’s finally dawned on the world that Farrell isn’t like these legends. He is a legend in his own right.

The film itself is a stone cold classic. Like McDonagh’s last black comedy (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), it’s a visually stylish take on obsession. But it’s more focused and less sentimental. The twee trailer was a ruse (twee sells and McDonagh likes playing to a big gallery). The movie, luckily, is blarney free.

Padraic is horrified when fiddle-player Colm (Gleeson) says their friendship is over. Colm adores Mozart and wants to concentrate on composing music that will last the test of time. He’s got no room in his life for a pal who’s “too nice”. Padraic fails to take the hint.

An increasingly desperate Colm threatens to cut off the fingers on his fiddle-playing hand unless Padraic backs off. But Padraic is nothing if not stubborn. Ignoring the advice of his sister, Siobhan (Kerry Condon; lovely) and young lay-about Dominic (a spellbinding Keoghan), Padraic hits on a cunning plan. If Colm thinks Padraic’s too nice, maybe the solution is for Padraic to get meaner?

There are numerous twists in this bleak and bloody tale. And every single one of them throws us for a loop but, once key facts are revealed, makes total sense.

There’s devilry in the details. Padraic lives with Siobhan (the pair, like the siblings in The Power of the Dog, even share a bedroom). As she pores over a book, he shaves in front of a cracked mirror. In James Joyce’s Ulysses, erudite hero Stephen Dedalus describes a “cracked looking-glass” as “a symbol of Irish art”. McDonagh, born and raised in London, is daring his critics to find a suitable label for his film.

Dominic (who fancies Siobhan) is the only person willing to discuss love. Sexual repression is rife on this island. So is sexual dysfunction. But as with the civil war rumbling away in the background, no one’s paying attention.

Dominic, Padraic and Colm are tragic figures. And you need to enjoy crying - I mean, really sobbing - to get a kick out of The Banshees of Inisherin. Really, it deserves to win Baftas and Oscars, but will do just fine without them. This funny/sad story will inspire awe for centuries to come. I reckon McDonagh’s a modern-day Mozart. We’ll never know if I’m right. But I bloody well am.

114mins, cert 15

The best Irish films to watch for Saint Patrick’s day

Star Wars C-3PO head from actor Anthony Daniels sells for £660,000

The 25 best films on Rakuten TV to watch right now

Celebrate Art of London’s collaborations with women artists

The Banshees of Inisherin screens at the LFF on Friday October 14 and Sunday October 16 and is on general release from October 21

Create a FREE account to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

UK Edition Change

• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Paris 2024 Olympics
• Rugby Union
• Sport Videos
• John Rentoul
• Mary Dejevsky
• Andrew Grice
• Sean O’Grady
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Fitness & Wellbeing
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Car Insurance Deals
• Lifestyle Videos
• UK Hotel Reviews
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Australia & New Zealand
• South America
• C. America & Caribbean
• Middle East
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Today’s Edition
• Home & Garden
• Broadband deals
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Climate 100
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Solar Panels
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events
• Wine Offers

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

The Banshees of Inisherin review: A Martin McDonagh film equal to In Bruges – if not better

The british-irish director reunites his ‘in bruges’ stars colin farrell and brendan gleeson for a film heart-wrenching in its simplicity, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey

Get our the life cinematic email for free, thanks for signing up to the the life cinematic email.

Dir: Martin McDonagh. Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan. 15, 114 minutes.

Violence always bursts forth from the pen of Martin McDonagh . The British-Irish director and playwright has spent decades larking about in the realm of angry, impotent men – whether it’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001) or In Bruges (2008). But The Banshees of Inisherin , which reunites his In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson , may contain the most exquisitely McDonagh-ish image of them all. Gleeson’s Colm Doherty, without warning, has ended his friendship with Farrell’s Pádraic Súilleabháin. “I just don’t like you no more,” he states, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. When Pádraic, wounded, attempts to rebuild the bridge between them, Colm threatens to take a pair of shears to each of his fingers until he’s finally left alone. The threat is not an idle one.

McDonagh’s latest is heart-wrenching in its simplicity, dark-humoured and unadorned in its sentiments. It’s a film equal to In Bruges – perhaps even more effective in the way its relative restraint presents brutality as humdrum as a trip to the pub or a pat on the head of Pádraic’s moon-eyed donkey, Jenny. Colm’s savagery isn’t directed towards his former friend, although he resents the man’s many soliloquies about animal droppings for sapping away the vital moments of his quickly fleeting life. It’s time he could have spent in the pursuit of music, a legacy of worth.

No, Colm’s compulsion is purely towards self-obliteration. He would rather pull off the very tools needed to play his fiddle rather than wrestle with the idea that he’s wasted his own life. It’s a sharp metaphor for the existential burdens of small-island life, here in Inisherin, a fictional member of the Aran Islands. As Colm argues, citing the great classical composers, “nobody from the 17th century was remembered for being nice”. It’s that same fear of monotony that tortures Pádraic’s pin-sharp and literary-minded sister Siobhán (a wonderful Kerry Condon). When her brother finds out the book she’s reading is sad, he suggests that she reads a happier one, lest she gets lonely. It poses a deceptively simple but tortuous question: what exactly are we all living for? Happiness or meaning?

Colm and Pádraic’s empty but resolute war is echoed, too, across the waters and on the mainland. It’s 1923, and the Irish Civil War has entered its final chapter. “Good luck to you, whatever it is you’re fighting about,” Pádraic mumbles to no one, as the sound of gunfire ricochets. McDonagh’s point here is less about the specific roots of such a feud. The Banshees of Inisherin instead frames violence as an aimless expression of, as Siobhán puts it, “bleakness and grudges and loneliness and spite”. The local policeman, Peadar Kearney (Gary Lydon), has been called to the mainland to oversee an execution. He can’t quite remember who’s executing who. But he does channel his own rage by regularly pummelling his son, Dominic (Barry Keoghan, in the kind of twitchy role that only Barry Keoghan can play), who’s perhaps the only man on the island sweeter and lonelier and more innocent than Pádraic.

Though Gleeson’s crumpled resignation finds ample room for both nobility and cruelty, it’s Farrell who really anchors the film. It’s tricky to play a character who every other character refers to only as a dullard, and then to make him so worthy of our sympathy and pain. But when the actor’s eyebrows twist up like a pair of divining rods, he’s able to push that “kicked puppy” look into something profoundly tragic. The Banshees of the Inisherin is really a beautiful work to behold.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

• My Independent Premium
• Account details
• Help centre

Review: In buddy breakup drama ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ all’s Farrell in love and war

• Copy Link URL Copied!

It’s hardly an original insight to note that “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Martin McDonagh’s caustic and mournful new movie, is also his latest work to give its location top billing. Longtime admirers of this British-Irish writer-director’s stage work know his fondness for regionally specific titles like “The Cripple of Inishmaan” and “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” two plays that — together with this film — form a loosely connected trilogy, tied together not by common characters but by common ground. If character is destiny in McDonagh’s work, then both are also inextricably tied to location and landscape. Here, as before, he draws us into an insular Irish enclave, where the air is thick with salty insults and bitter laughs, and cruelty seems to well up from the soil like highly acidic groundwater.

Which is not to suggest that Ireland — either the country of McDonagh’s firsthand experience or the one of his fictional imagination — has a monopoly on cruelty. That much is clear from his farther-flung plays, like “A Behanding in Spokane,” and also from his movies such as “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “In Bruges.” That 2008 comedy’s co-leads, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, are superbly reunited in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” only this time, rather than playing two hit men on a less-than-idyllic Belgian holiday, they’re playing longtime best friends who have never known any home beyond Inisherin. And from our first glimpse of this small, fictional island, with its lush greenery and not-infrequent rainbows (beautifully filmed by Ben Davis), that might not seem like such a bad state of affairs.

For your safety

The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the CDC and local health officials .

By movie’s end, we know better. The year is 1923, and in the distance the Irish civil war is raging, providing some blunt yet hazy thematic scaffolding for this more intimate tale of men in conflict. The beauty of Inisherin will soon turn sour and corrosive, much like the once-harmonious friendship between Pádraic Súilleabháin (Farrell), a sweet-souled dairy farmer, and Colm Doherty (Gleeson), a gruff, gimlet-eyed fiddle player. In the opening scene, Pádraic sets out to meet Colm for their usual afternoon pint, only to find the man sitting at home, his back to the window, quietly ignoring Pádraic’s knocks and entreaties. Can a man scowl not just with his face but with his entire hulking frame? Somehow, Gleeson manages.

Bewildered by this silent treatment, Pádraic remains unperturbed — surely it must be some sort of joke or misunderstanding — and refuses to accept that the friendship is over, even after Colm later spells it out for him down at the pub: “I just don’t like ya no more.” After a pause that lasts a small eternity, Pádraic responds, with a mix of confusion, disbelief and heartache that Farrell plays to perfection: “Ya do like me!” And the funny thing is, he’s right. Colm’s abrupt decision stems not from a lack of affection but a lack of time: Gripped by despair and newly aware of his encroaching mortality, he wants to live out his days playing and composing music, the only thing that provides him with any semblance of comfort or meaning. He also wants to consume his last pints in peace, away from Pádraic’s incessant yammering.

Incessant yammering, of course, is one unflattering if essentially correct way to describe McDonagh’s own flavorsome dialogue, which uses staccato rhythms and purposeful word repetitions to generate a sustained back-and-forth almost as musical as Carter Burwell’s lovely score. Apart from “feck,” the favored expletive of this early 20th century Irish milieu, the script’s most frequently deployed four-letter words are “dull” and “nice,” two words that are often hurled in Pádraic’s direction. Agreeable and simple-minded, Pádraic gets along with just about everyone, from his sharp-as-a-tack sister, Siobhan (a flat-out wonderful Kerry Condon), to the animals placed in his reliable care. (None of the latter is more beloved than his miniature donkey, Jenny, the most important member of the movie’s splendid four-legged ensemble.)

Colm’s rejection of Pádraic is also, in its way, a rejection of the tyranny of niceness, and an assertion that greatness — whether in the form of a Mozart symphony or, God willing, the humbler violin piece he’s trying to compose — is of far greater value. All of which opens up a rich, thorny dialogue concerning McDonagh himself, who likes to blur the lines between humanism and nihilism, and who in “The Banshees of Inisherin” comes perhaps as close to greatness as he’s ever gotten. One measure of the movie’s skill, and its generosity, is that it embraces the wisdom of both its protagonists. You’ll share Colm’s exasperation and defend his right to pursue an unimpeded life of music and the mind, but you’ll also concede Pádraic’s point that kindness and camaraderie leave behind their own indelible if often invisible legacies.

Muddying the waters still further: Colm, despite his strict enforcement of boundaries (including a not-so-idle threat to harm himself if Pádraic doesn’t leave him alone), nonetheless finds ways to treat his hapless former friend with decency and compassion. Meanwhile, Pádraic, for all his talk of niceness, is the one whose escalating harassment of Colm takes on menacing overtones, lubricated by whiskey, desperation and anger. To watch these two characters rage against each other is to acquire an entirely new understanding of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. And no one ultimately understands that dynamic better than Siobhan, who — as both Pádraic’s loyal, loving sister and the one person on Inisherin who can keep intellectual pace with Colm — could hardly be more divided in her sympathies.

Siobhan’s presence — and her own fiercely individual decisionmaking — opens up another dialectic. Although centered on the conflict between two equally unyielding men, the movie is no less about the tension between a small, isolated community and the vast world that lies beyond its overcast horizon. Mocked by the provincial townfolk for being single and bookish, Siobhan is eyeing her own possible escape. And who can blame her? “The Banshees of Inisherin,” like much of McDonagh’s earlier work, uses its physically remote setting to map out an entire human cosmos of greed, spite and self-delusion, populated by characters including a gossipy shopkeeper (Bríd Ní Neachtain), a physically abusive policeman (Gary Lydon), a witchy prophesier of doom (Sheila Flitton) and, on the more likable side, a village idiot named Dominic (Barry Keoghan).

Colin Farrell doesn’t have many ‘true friends.’ But Brendan Gleeson is one

From ‘In Bruges’ to ‘Saturday Night Live,’ the ‘Banshees of Inisherin’ co-stars have never had a problem picking up where they left off.

Oct. 19, 2022

With the exception of Dominic, a perpetual troublemaker whom Keoghan invests with wit, mischief and unexpected pathos, none of these peripheral characters reveals more than one or two dimensions. If “The Banshees of Inisherin” marks a significant improvement on the wildly uneven “Three Billboards,” it still doesn’t entirely shake off some of the reflexively glib, cynical aspects of McDonagh’s writing, namely his tendency to reduce some of his characters to one-note personalities, or to make them the butt of cruel comic (and sometimes cosmic) punchlines. They are the playthings of a God who dispenses punishments with a whimsical, even arbitrary hand, and whom few of these habitual churchgoers — maybe not even the meddlesome priest (David Pearse) who’s enlisted to mediate the central conflict — ultimately really trusts or believes in.

And so Colm is only right to be consumed with despair. Which doesn’t make Pádraic wrong to assume that there are salves for life’s woes, and that he might, in fact, be one of them. Farrell’s performance, one of the finest he’s ever given, is a balm in itself, a thing of rough-hewn simplicity and exquisite delicacy, nailing comic beats and striking emotional chords with the same deft touch. Without ever turning leaden or oppressive, he shows us a man who isn’t the same by movie’s end, who’s experienced more loss, fury and grief than he’d ever thought possible. All he can count on anymore, really, is the ground beneath his feet — and in that respect at least, McDonagh suggests, he may be far less alone than he realizes.

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’

Rated: R, for language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes Playing: Starts Oct. 21 at AMC the Grove, Los Angeles; AMC Century City

More to Read

Making a ‘biopic in real time’ with the Irish-language rappers of ‘Kneecap’

Aug. 1, 2024

Review: In ‘Last Summer,’ an illicit relationship takes root in all its messy provocation

June 28, 2024

Review: ‘Ghostlight’ makes an expressive, subtle argument for the healing power of theater

June 14, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Justin Chang was a film critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2016 to 2024. He won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in criticism for work published in 2023. Chang is the author of the book “FilmCraft: Editing” and serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Review: In the awkward ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon,’ a toddler is now a childlike adult

Aug. 2, 2024

Review: A gay writer gets risky to supercharge his stalled literary career in ‘Sebastian’

Sandy Bresler, Jack Nicholson’s longtime agent and agency co-founder, dies at 87

Review: Matt Damon and Casey Affleck play half-smart criminals in overfamiliar ‘The Instigators’

Review: 'The Banshees of Inisherin' stands high with the best movies of the year

Don’t worry if you can’t pronounce the title.

Don't worry if you can't pronounce the title. Writer-director Martin McDonagh, a son of Ireland and fresh off the mirth and menace of "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," is at it again with "The Banshees of Inisherin." It's a stunning achievement, brimming over with dark comic magic and jolts of bloody scary hell. Fasten your seatbelts.

For the record, banshees, out of Irish folklore, are female spirits known for shrieking before a death in the family. Inisherin is a remote fictional island off of Ireland's west coast where in 1923 McDonagh finds two pals who break up because one cuts the other dead. Why? Hang on.

Since the two friends are played with mad skills by, respectively, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason, you're in for a display of acting at its funniest, fiercest and finest. If you thought these two Dubliners worked wonders as hitmen in McDonagh's 2008 debut "In Bruges," you'll be knocked out by the crazy killer fun they uncork here.

Ferrell, 46, plays Padraic, a simple soul who mostly ignores the sounds of gunfire from the Irish Civil War he hears across the bay. "Good luck to you," he announces, "whatever it is you're fighting about." Padraic, who lives with his unmarried sister Siobhan (a superb Kerry Condon) and a pet donkey, spends his days exchanging blarney with his older pub mate, Colm.

Gleason, 67, plays the gruff, no-nonsense Colm as a fiddle-playing loner who tolerates Padraic until, well, he doesn't. Out of nowhere Colm tells Padraic to get out of his face forever. He wants to compose music to leave as his legacy and he doesn't need Padraic's jabbering.

MORE: Review: 'The Woman King is indelible and truly inspiring

If you think that's a setup for a twinkly bromance that will end in harmony and cuddles, then you don't know McDonagh. Colm, wielding a rusty shears, threatens to cut off a finger every time Padraic speaks a word to him. He's as serious as the war between brothers raging outside.

McDonagh is no stranger to violence and its repercussions. You can see it in his acclaimed work as a playwright in prizewinners from "The Pillowman" to "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" and "Hangmen." McDonagh's skill as a wordsmith often sees critics undervalue his talent as an assured and experimental director.

That ignorance can be banished in the way McDonagh allows the beauty and stark sadness of Inisherin (kudos to the poetry of light and shadow achieved by camera wiz Ben Davis) to infiltrate and illuminate this tale of people living on the edge of civilization and madness.

The actors could not be better. Besides the sensational Condon who should lead the awards race for Best Supporting Actress, there is the brilliant Barry Keoghan as the so-called village idiot who uncovers his secret heart to Siobhan in a scene that takes a piece out of you.

And pay attention to Sheila Flitton as the witchy Mrs. McCormick, whose unkind prophecies align her with the title's banshees. "A death shall come, maybe even two deaths," she wails.

MORE: Review: 'See How They Run' is a wicked fun whodunit that goes down easy

Most of all, you stick with Farrell and Gleason through the currents of challenge and provocation that blow through the film. Gleason plays Colm like a gathering storm, a true force of nature. Best known as Mad-Eye Moody in the "Harry Potter" series and Donald Trump in "The Comey Rule," Gleason seizes the role of his career in "Banshees" and rides it to glory.

Shamefully, neither Gleason nor Farrell has won an Oscar or even been nominated for one. That changes now. Farrell gravitates to risk in films as diverse as "The Lobster" and the Penguin in "The Batman." But in nailing every nuance in sweet, soulful, exasperating and emotionally vulnerable Padraic, Farrell delivers his finest two hours on screen. He's phenomenal.

From acting to writing, direction, sound and image, "The Banshees of Inisherin" stands high with the best movies of the year and cements McDonagh's reputation as a world-class filmmaker with the power to sneak up and floor you.

Trending Reader Picks

Gershkovich and Whelan return home

• Aug 2, 12:53 AM

Trump lashes out at Biden over prisoner exchange

• Aug 2, 12:31 PM

Harris and Trump tied in 538's new polling average

• Aug 2, 10:28 AM

Trump immunity judgment is returned to lower court

• Aug 2, 2:59 PM

IT outages reported across globe

• Jul 19, 4:00 PM

ABC News Live

24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Review: Martin McDonagh Serves a Delicious "Foe" Gras

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

'Trap' Review: M. Night Shyamalan Gets in His Own Way in Josh Hartnett-Led Thriller

'rebel moon' director’s cut review: somehow, zack snyder’s netflix movies got worse, 'black eyed susan' review: horror sci-fi wishes it were 'ex machina' i fantasia 2024.

This review was originally part of our Venice 2022 coverage .

A Civil War is often described as brother vs. brother. Martin McDonagh 's follow-up to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is titled The Banshees of Inisherin , and it is not about a Civil War or battle. Battles are remembered. Songs are written about them. The front page is loaded with informational updates from the front. And they will make the history books. Here, brother vs. brother is reduced to a macro level of pal vs. pal. This is an ode to petty grievances, bizarre stands that won’t be remembered, but might become a tall tale at a pub. The time when two inseparable pals separated through grotesquely comical means.

On the Irish isle of Inisherin in 1923, the locals see a Civil War brewing on the mainland, but they can’t keep the sides straight; nor do they have an interest in their demands or causes, but they sure can appreciate a good fight. More directly consequential and upon their land, a row is brewing between two old drinking buddies, Pádraic ( Colin Farrell ) and Colm ( Brendan Gleeson ). Colm has decided to end the friendship like a swiftly severed limb: no more contact whatsoever. Pádraic tries to unravel what he has done to offend his friend, but it’s not any act—it’s just that Colm thinks their discussions are dull and have kept him from completing more meaningful musical compositions on his violin. He is contemplating time and weighing the time of creating something vs. the time of conversation with a nice, but dull, person. Because Pádraic is so hurt by this decision, Colm takes his request one step further to show that he truly does want their friendship to be over. He threatens to cut off a finger on his hand for each time Pádraic attempts to persuade him otherwise.

Though it may not sound like it, this is a comedy. And though it’s dark, it’s not nearly as bleak as it sounds. In addition to the feuding former friends, McDonagh has dotted the community with a curious dolt ( Barry Keoghan ), a gossiping postmaster, peacekeeping bartenders, an abusive policeman, and Pádraic’s well-read sister ( Kerry Condon ), who shares a house with Pádraic. The humor in Inisherin isn’t zany or outlandish, nor does it make fun of its characters. It’s darkly charming; deftly engaging with a community that feels like it existed long before the credits started and will continue long after they’ve ended. Inisherin feels like a peculiar snapshot. And though the plot is minor, it gives McDonagh space to make the plot his characters' interactions.

RELATED: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Featurette: Meet Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson’s Characters [Exclusive]

Similar to the macro scale of friends in battle, McDonagh keeps Colm’s artistic desire attainable. Colm mentions that he wants to write compositions because kindness ends, it’s never remembered past a generation, but music has the chance to become a ritual. Something tied to a place and time that can continue. And while Colm brings up Mozart, what he’s working on is a funeral song for the island. Something sorrowful but reverent. Two words I would use to describe The Banshees of Inisherin , too.

Marriage is a pact between two people, but in some ways, it’s easier to sever and be separated through divorce than for two extremely close friends to avoid each other in a small community. Our ritual of lifelong pacts has an escape raft. Divorce comes with paperwork. Same with leaving a job. But there’s no such thing in a friendship. That you must navigate on your own, and it kicks up strange feelings of abandonment far differently. Romantic and plutonic relationships both carry an intense bond but in some ways we expect our friends to be more constant; to reassure, to listen, to pick us up, and to celebrate us. There are grief groups for so many types of loss and losing a friend who still lives among you is a type of loss that others can’t fill a void in the same exact way. It takes different types of emotional labor to be a good friend and the rewards are different, too.

Inisherin is unique to center immense grief within a faded friendship. It’s something that I personally have been going through for many months now and this film was watched at the correct time to resonate more fully with me. I won’t write out the details here, but I mention it because it’s rare to watch a film that shows an aspect of the human condition that other films have rarely touched on for the duration of a film (not just a part of a third act growing distance that gets repatched). Nor do two friends often remain equal in screen time throughout (an aside, but Girlfriends and Frances Ha both follow a diminishing friendship with comedic notes, but neither has co-leads; there is also a gender imbalance when it comes to stories of friendships where the actual status of the friendship is the plot of the movie).

Inisherin closes without a firm resolution because a neat and tidy ending won’t work with this story; this is the stretch we get to see. McDonagh ties this feud between friends as thematically linked to Civil War skirmishes (and it’s reasonable to read into modern political climates); small acquiesces to the injured party can be beneficial, but it’s more likely that the same bad blood will recirculate at a different time. History repeats itself. Being a community and relying on others through an unspoken, unsigned social pact creates a space for unmet needs to fester without the ability to make a clean break.

It helps that the actors in question all show immense emotional maturity despite the men dipping into prideful immaturity. Farrell depicts the highs and lows of mania when so much of one’s well-being is placed into the hands and decisions of another. And Gleeson, though hard-edged, finds the moments of compassion for his former friend despite his attempts to be firm. Dancing between them, Condon and Keoghan deliver marvelous supporting turns. She is of quick wit and resolve, and he is a loose cannon dimwit who eventually rises above Pádraic’s once solid moral grounding.

Like the sparse land of its setting, Inisherin is a film that reveals multitudes through observation and reflection. While I’m writing mostly of its emotional seriousness, it is also compassionate and humorous. You hold out hope for every character. Every character excep t the policeman. And McDonagh gets a zinger there, too, by saying “if punching a policeman is a sin then we might as well pack it up.” Something every brother on either side of the Civil War could cheers to at the pub.

The Banshees of Inisherin is now playing in theaters.

• Movie Reviews
• Brendan Gleeson
• Colin Farrell

The Banshees Of Inisherin Review

21 Oct 2022

The Banshees Of Inisherin

How do you break up with a best friend? It’s a good question, tackled brilliantly by Seinfeld way back in its first season. After all, the rules of social disengagement are pretty clear when it comes to sexual relationships, even more so when they involve divorce. But separating from a buddy you just don’t like anymore? When the pair of you live on a small, scantily populated island with only one pub? How do you go about that?

In Martin McDonagh ’s world, the answer is: brutally. After resolving to dissolve his friendship with the dependable but dull Pádraic ( Colin Farrell ), Colm ( Brendan Gleeson ) bluntly tells his ex-friend he doesn’t want talk to him or drink with him ever again. No explanation given. No attempt made to soften the blow. Of course, if you’re familiar with writer-director McDonagh’s previous film work, from In Bruges to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri , such tactlessness should come as no surprise — McDonagh’s scripts are so abrasive, you could use them as sandpaper. So the focus of the film is less on Colm’s decision, and more on Pádraic’s reaction, not to mention the impact it has on his “limited” (another character’s word, not ours) life.

Farrell is fantastic, delivering one of his best-ever performances.

Ironically, for a story about a friendship-wreck, The Banshees Of Inisherin is also a reunion: of McDonagh with the double act that made the hitman antics of In Bruges such a piquant treat. However, Farrell and Gleeson don’t spend nearly as much time on screen together here, for self-evident reasons. It’s a shame, in a small way, but it does add to the pervading sense of wrongness.

Colm is largely inscrutable, despite the occasional revelation of sorts, and the odd flash of kindliness. McDonagh never fully reveals what drives him to the Pádraic-alienating extremes he goes to later in the film, and that makes him the more emotionally distant of the two men.

This is primarily Pádraic’s story; the tale of a good, decent fella who, through an enforced process of self-examination, finds and embraces other, sharper facets to his personality. Farrell is fantastic in the role, delivering one of his best-ever performances. He takes on a kind of sagging anti-charisma, a seeming guilelessness which he initially plays for laughs, but then gradually and convincingly brews into something much darker.

Complementing him perfectly is Kerry Condon as Pádraic’s savvy sister, Siobhan. Her exasperation at her brother’s response to Colm’s ultra-dick move is thoroughly relatable, and you’ll welcome every moment she spends on screen. Siobhan also evokes the most sympathy as a woman who has clearly, desperately outgrown this cliff- edged, wall-scarred speck of an island — a realisation only underlined by the clumsy amorous attentions of Barry Keoghan’s damaged youth, Dominic, a character that sadly gets the shortest narrative shrift of the bunch.

The drama may be intimate, but the backdrop feels epic.

Tenderly scored by Carter Burwell and gorgeously shot by cinematographer Ben Davis — the drama may be intimate, but the backdrop feels epic — The Banshees Of Inisherin is a film whose unhurried pace never drags. It is, we suppose, McDonagh’s gentlest offering yet (and the fact that his gentlest film involves acts of mutilation says a lot about his other work). That said, you could also argue it is his first war movie. And not just because it is set during the Irish Civil War of 1922-23, which is heard raging just a few miles across the water. After all, Colm and Pádraic’s split is really just that war in microcosm. The causes are obscure and confusing, the emerging conflict escalates fast, the previously close participants employ tactics that would have once been unthinkable. And the after-effects will be felt for years to come.

McDonagh has never been one for neat resolutions, so it’s not giving anything away to say that we’re denied one here, too. This is no bromantic-comedy, and you really shouldn’t be hoping for any feel-good vibes (though there are plenty of laughs, if your humour verges on the dark side). But the film is engrossing and beautifully mounted, and is sure to not disappoint anyone who’s enjoyed McDonagh’s previous rough rides.

Related Articles

Movies | 12 03 2023

Movies | 19 02 2023

Movies | 06 02 2023

Movies | 19 01 2023

Movies | 02 12 2022

Movies | 28 09 2022

Movies | 27 09 2022

Movies | 01 09 2022

'The Banshees of Inisherin' review: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson bring friendly fire to dark comedy

Most folks can relate to the emotional doom spiral of a romantic interest suddenly ghosting them out of nowhere. But there’s nothing worse than the thought of a trusted best friend telling you to take a hike and wanting to cut off all contact.

Writer/director Martin McDonagh ’s dazzling dark comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” (★★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters and streaming on HBO Max) takes this universal conceit, set on a remote Irish island in 1923, to hilarious and extraordinarily bleak places. The “In Bruges” duo of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson reteam to give understandable humanity to two friends with a permanent wedge between them. And Farrell, especially, offers one of his most nuanced performances as a nice guy driven to extremes because of forced loneliness.

Happy-go-lucky Pádraic (Farrell) goes about his day like any other on the fictional isle of Inisherin – caring for his miniature donkey and other animals, bantering with his sister Siobhán (a scrappy Kerry Condon) and heading to the local pub for a midafternoon pint with his buddy, Colm (Gleeson). Colm, an older man, tells him to sit somewhere else, and eventually takes his drink outside. Pádraic wants to know what’s up with the rebuff, and he’s not excited by Colm’s answer: “I just don’t like you anymore.”

'Banshees of Inisherin': Why broken friendships hit home for stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson

Colm explains that he no longer has time for Pádraic’s “aimless chatting” and just wants his former BFF to leave him alone so he can play his fiddle and live his life in peace and quiet. Spurred on by this suddenly fractured friendship – and the fact that everyone’s thrown, including Siobhán and Dominic (the delightfully excitable  Barry Keoghan ), the locale's capricious voice of reason – Pádraic keeps bugging Colm to find out what he can do to fix things. This bothers Colm even more, to the point where he threatens to start cutting off his fingers if Pádraic won’t leave him alone. Both men are on the stubborn side, and take this feud to unfortunate, violent lengths.

McDonagh, who splendidly captured another community in turmoil with 2017's best-picture nominee “ Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ,” insightfully sets “Banshees” during the Irish Civil War: Residents of Inisherin frequently see skirmishes occurring on the mainland, while a more intimate battle escalates around them. Even though they live on a glorious and expansive landscape, these people are all up in each other’s business constantly, so everybody has a stake in Pádraic and Colm’s uncivil row, from Dominic’s abusive cop dad (Gary Lydon) to a witchy elderly woman (Sheila Flitton) who may or may not be a banshee herself. (For those unfamiliar, a banshee is a female spirit in Irish folklore who foretells death.) 

Holiday movie preview: New photos from the biggest films including 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,' 'Avatar 2'

There is a certain heightened reality to the goings-on that belies how grounded the film is in its themes of isolation, desperation and mortality. Its characters pick sides, but the film doesn’t, and while it’s told mostly from Pádraic’s brokenhearted perspective, you clearly see each man’s point of view.

Pádraic is gobsmacked to lose his closest friend; Colm yearns to leave some sort of artistic legacy; and others, like Siobhán – who’s by far the smartest person on the island – are left to choose between picking up the pieces or looking out for themselves.

'The Banshees of Inisherin'): All the best movies we saw at Toronto Film Festival, ranked

Condon and Keoghan give “Banshees” extra personality and verve, while Farrell and Gleeson are the two halves of its beating heart. It’s hard to hate Colm because of the world-weary depth Gleeson lends him – plus, he has a ridiculously cute dog that plays a vital role in the film’s memorable endgame. And Farrell brings a lovable underdog nature to Pádraic that doesn’t let him off the hook for his questionable actions.

“Banshees” masterfully explores the complications of a platonic friendship – when old pals stop being polite and start getting real – with a sailor’s mouth and a mix of hilarity and tragedy in one wail of a tale. 

Cookie banner

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy . Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use , which became effective December 20, 2019.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.

Follow The Ringer online:

• Follow The Ringer on Twitter
• Follow The Ringer on Instagram
• Follow The Ringer on Youtube

Site search

• House of the Dragon
• Bill Simmons Podcast
• 24 Question Party People
• 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s
• Against All Odds
• Bachelor Party
• The Bakari Sellers Podcast
• Beyond the Arc
• The Big Picture
• Black Girl Songbook
• Book of Basketball 2.0
• Boom/Bust: HQ Trivia
• Counter Pressed
• The Dave Chang Show
• East Coast Bias
• Every Single Album: Taylor Swift
• Extra Point Taken
• Fairway Rollin’
• Fantasy Football Show
• The Fozcast
• The Full Go
• Gambling Show
• Gene and Roger
• Higher Learning
• The Hottest Take
• Jam Session
• Just Like Us
• Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air
• Last Song Standing
• The Local Angle
• Masked Man Show
• The Mismatch
• Mint Edition
• Morally Corrupt Bravo Show
• New York, New York
• Off the Pike
• One Shining Podcast
• Philly Special
• Plain English
• The Pod Has Spoken
• The Press Box
• The Prestige TV Podcast
• Recipe Club
• The Rewatchables
• Ringer Dish
• The Ringer-Verse
• The Ripple Effect
• The Rugby Pod
• The Ryen Russillo Podcast
• Sports Cards Nonsense
• Slow News Day
• Speidi’s 16th Minute
• Somebody’s Gotta Win
• Sports Card Nonsense
• This Blew Up
• Trial by Content
• Ringer Wrestling Worldwide
• What If? The Len Bias Story
• Wrighty’s House
• Wrestling Show
• Latest Episodes
• All Podcasts

Filed under:

• Pop Culture

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Is Fecking Transfixing

The reunion of Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and director Martin McDonagh features plenty of cursing, plenty of contemplation, and also a donkey

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Twitter
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Is Fecking Transfixing

In Martin McDonagh’s 2008 comedy In Bruges , the fledgling Irish hitman Ray, played by Colin Farrell, is asked during a visit to an art gallery by his partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) to define purgatory. “[It’s] kind of like the in-betweeny one,” Ray explains, gazing intently at an apocalyptic canvas by Hieronymus Bosch. “You weren’t really shit, but you weren’t all that great either.”

Whether or not In Bruges is a great movie is up for debate, but it’s definitely not shit: It’s a sly and quotable romp that shows off its creator’s gift for nasty, staccato dialogue in the Harold Pinter–Quentin Tarantino mold. When McDonagh is on his game, the four-letter words that come spilling out of his antiheroes have a musical quality—they’re soaring and dramatic, like arias of profanity. “You better fucking be in tomorrow night when I fucking call again, otherwise there’ll be fucking hell to pay,” thunders Ray and Ken’s boss, played by a never-funnier Ralph Fiennes , into their hotel room’s answering machine. “I’m fucking telling you.”

When In Bruges came out, Farrell was still negotiating his mid-career shift from a brooding would-be movie star to a soulful, resourceful character actor—the sweet spot where he’s resided ever since. As for Gleeson, he was seemingly born an expert, weathered character actor, with decades of honorable service elevating franchise mega-productions and scrappy U.K. indies alike. (Earlier this month, he actually got to host Saturday Night Live , a so-so effort featuring an all-time great preview skit .) McDonagh doubled down on the intergenerational dynamic between his two leads, leveraging Farrell’s callow, protean charisma against Gleeson’s veteran gravitas. Thrown together into the whirling verbal maelstrom of McDonagh’s screenplay—with its elaborate exposition, narrative switchbacks, and thick atmosphere of rage and remorse—Farrell and Gleeson held their own, and then some. It’s like they were born to bicker.

This feeling of performers as perfectly matched opponents has only gotten richer and deeper 15 years later in McDonagh’s new drama, The Banshees of Inisherin , which reteams Farrell and Gleeson in a similar configuration, to superlative effect. The film—set in the Aran Islands during 1923, amid the waning days of the Irish Civil War—got a 15-minute standing ovation in Venice and looks set to be a fall-season awards contender. (“I tried to leave at the seventh minute,” joked Farrell to Stephen Colbert .) Like In Bruges , it’s an ornery study of masculine rituals and psychology that also doubles as a meditation on purgatory; the difference is that where In Bruges ’s antiheroes were effectively rubberneckers in a foreign city—“Ray, you are about the worst tourist in the world”—the characters in Banshees have all but merged with their home turf. They’re as much a part of the landscape as the fields and the cliffs. Neither aging musician Colm (Gleeson), who lives alone in a large house on the shoreline, nor cheery dairy farmer Pádraic (Farrell), who’s situated farther uphill with sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon), harbor illusions about ever leaving Inisherin—alive or dead. What begins to drive a wedge in the pair’s long-standing friendship are their differing philosophies on what to do with the time they have left there in the great in-betweeny.

For Colm, the answer is a peculiar and perverse form of self-flagellation. Weary of Pádraic’s affably mindless line of conversation—including detailed inventories of what’s been popping up in his pet donkey’s stool—and anxious that he won’t accomplish anything worthwhile in life if he can’t hear himself think, he offers his pal an ultimatum: Leave me alone or I’ll start cutting my own fingers off, one at a time. At first, the regulars at the pub think Colm is taking the piss, but the more matter-of-factly he repeats his terms, the more his words convey sincere loathing. The fact that Pádraic is—as he’d surely be the first to tell you—an extremely nice guy only hardens Colm’s resolve. “I just don’t like you no more,” he rasps when Pádraic asks what he’s done to deserve being put in such a terrible position. “You do like me,” Pádraic insists after a long, torturous pause. “I don’t,” comes the firm reply.

No spoilers here about the degree to which Colm follows through on his vow; but lest one suspect some kind of bloodless, picture-postcard period farce, it’s worth remembering that, fondness for dirty dialogue aside, McDonagh’s calling card as a writer is the embrace of extremity. His scripts for stage and screen alike are rife with brutal violence, whether experienced or remembered. McDonagh’s first and most devastating play, 1996’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane , concerns an isolated aging mother-daughter duo whose mutual dependency suggests empathy curdled into lethal contempt. Cooped up with nothing but their resentment, the women torture each other with boiling oil. Tony Award–winning The Pillowman , whose Broadway cast included Jeff Goldblum, Billy Crudup, and a then-unknown Michael Stuhlbarg, is a grim fairy tale about fairy tales, laced with graphic descriptions of torture and child murder. The title of 2010’s A Behanding in Spokane , McDonagh’s first play set in the United States, is not a metaphor; the protagonist, played on stage by Christopher Walken, has been searching for his missing appendage for 27 years.

That idea of truth in advertising also extended to films like Seven Psychopaths (about a septet of you know whats) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing , Missouri , which is about exactly what it says it is and, even more than In Bruges, solidified McDonagh’s big-screen cred. That’s not all it did, of course: Tackling post-Trump America through a story about vigilante justice, McDonagh polarized viewers into two camps—those who thought the filmmaker landed body blows against social and political taboos, and those who perceived his jabs as those of a cheap-shot artist. Writing in The New York Times , Wesley Morris likened the film to “a set of postcards from a Martian lured to America by a cable news ticker and by rumors of how easily flattered and provoked we are.” What can’t be debated is that the climactic decision to more or less redeem Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell)— a racist, abusive small-town police officer—by having him team up with Frances McDormand’s livid ACAB heroine was a capital-C Choice; a byproduct of McDonagh’s stubborn refusal to conflate depiction with endorsement.

In light of Three Billboards ’ withering pop-cultural backlash—which McDonagh apparently took to heart — Banshees ’ return to the Emerald Isle could be seen as a retreat or, at least, a journey back to the primal scene. “It isn’t really a return to anything,” McDonagh, who was born in London, snarked to IndieWire . “I guess because I’m sort of anti-nationalistic, it’s just a weird thing to have to define.” The script was developed out of an unfinished play meant to complete a trilogy of Irish-themed plays, along with the previously produced works The Cripple of Inishmaan and The Lieutenant of Inishmore . As much as McDonagh is dealing with universal themes—loneliness, despair, forgiveness—he’s also mining rich, deeply buried veins of Irish humor and mythology. In Irish folklore, a banshee is a spirit who heralds the death of a loved one by wailing and weeping, and Colm’s decision to name his latest violin composition in their honor suggests a man with mortality on his mind. (In addition to its vintage collection of drunkards and eccentrics, the village actually includes a banshee-like figure, an older woman that wanders the mountain roads at night, and whom even gentle Pádraic gives a wide berth.)

It’s a banshee-like melancholy, as opposed to simple misanthropy, that drives Colm deeper into himself as he strives to create something worthwhile while he still can, and Gleeson inhabits the character’s sadness with a heavy spirit. It’s a hard-edged, unsentimental performance, and—as in In Bruges —it gives Farrell plenty to work with in counterpoint. Whether throwing downcast macho poses in Miami Vice or hamming it up beneath latex in The Batman , Farrell’s most effective performances are the ones where he’s repressing (or mutating) his natural, roguish charm. The key to his career-best acting here as Pádraic (which earned him the prestigious Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival) is that he’s found a way to make kindness itself seem mindless and enervating—a quality synonymous with mediocrity. There’s a hint that one of Colm’s motives for freezing Pádraic out is to motivate him to stop wasting his own life as well, which is where Farrell’s almost obstinate decency starts becoming annoying; like the pet donkey he dotes on it’s in his nature to be loyal, and his inability to take a hint in this case has consequences for the people around him.

As long as it’s focused on its central, one-sided feud, The Banshees of Inisherin is bracingly funny, with a few bouts of verbal jousting that rival anything in In Bruges . (It’s probably the all-time world-record holder for usage of the word “feckin’” in a single film.) Whenever McDonagh pulls back to sketch the larger community, though, things start feeling thin. Condon, a wonderful actress who was underused in Three Billboards, is enjoyably feisty in her scenes with Farrell; however, but Siobhán’s really just there as a sounding board for her brother’s emotions. As for the twentysomething village-idiot Dominic, played by Barry Keoghan, he’s an example of McDonagh’s most cynical dramatic instincts—a character styled for the majority of the film as a walking punchline, before being transformed into a locus of pathos. This sentimental pushiness is the flip side to McDonagh’s scintillating cynicism. And, as talented as Keoghan is, it’s hard to enjoy his work when his role in the proceedings is so mechanical.

Dominic’s fate as the lone total innocent on display provides The Banshees of Inisherin with one of two carefully engineered climaxes, and it’s as predictable and phony as the second one is earned and sublime. As in Three Billboards , McDonagh isn’t above lighting a literal inferno to set his actors up for their verbal pyrotechnics, and the conversation that concludes the film takes place against a backdrop singed and ashen. In it, Farrell and Gleeson achieve the kind of natural, casual rhythm that makes even dialogue as stylized as McDonagh’s seem as if it’s being tossed off the tops of their heads; the intentness of their acting—the way we can sense both men listening to one another, instead of simply waiting to speak—is genuinely transfixing. Sometimes, when McDonagh’s characters fly off the handle, it’s a sign that he doesn’t really have much to say—a skilled wordsmith’s version of overcompensating. At the end of The Banshees of Inisherin , though , what’s left unsaid—and, just as importantly, how it’s left unsaid—is as eloquent as it gets.

Adam Nayman is a film critic, teacher, and author based in Toronto; his book The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together is available now from Abrams.

Next Up In Movies

• ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ Reaction and Favorite Animated Batman
• Dunkin’, Accents, and Keno: Matt Damon and Casey Affleck Talk Their Perfectly Boston New Movie
• ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’ Olympic Fever, and Who Is Venu For?
• Ringer-Verse Recommends: July 2024
• The 2024 Intellectual Property Draft
• Sidney Lumet at 100: The Essential Movies From an American Master

Sign up for the The Ringer Newsletter

Thanks for signing up.

Check your inbox for a welcome email.

Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.

Trump’s Bizarre Panel, MAGA Rejects Their Favorite Son, and the Political Football of Misinformation

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay talk Trump, the impact of this year’s Olympic women’s boxing, Kyle Rittenhouse’s announcement that Trump does not have his vote, and more

Phaedra Returns! Plus, ‘New Jersey’ and ‘Orange County.’

Rachel Lindsay and Callie Curry react to the news that Phaedra Parks will be making her return to ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’

Jey Uso, Gunther, and Rhea Ripley Join the Show

David, Kaz, Ben, Khal, and Brian are live from Cleveland and have a few guests lined up ahead of SummerSlam: Jey Uso, Gunther, and Rhea Ripley

But What About Pop Boy Summer?

In a spring and summer that have been dominated by female artists, Nora and Nathan talk about some of the male artists that have managed to break through on the charts: Post Malone, Zach Bryan, and Eminem

“Interesting Times in Chicago” With Russell Dorsey

Jason and Russell talk about the White Sox’s futility, how the trade deadline impacts how executives feel about their teams, how the Cubs are trying to build their team, and more

Justin Herbert’s Injury, Animated Training Camp Interactions, and NFL Reality Corner

Sheil and Nora also dive into some QB updates in Denver and Pittsburgh and break down the new pre-snap motion rules taking effect