I often use this opening bit to talk personally about the film I'm watching, establishing my biases and preconceptions so that you will know how they influenced my opinion. Sadly, The Banshees of Inisherin is no different. I've only recently started seeing the other side of a protracted period of depression, and a lot of the events of the movie ring true to the kind of feelings I've had in the past. I would warn people with low mood to maybe give this film a miss until they are in a better frame of mind. For everyone else though? Great stuff!
The movie tells the story of the end of Pádraic and Colm's friendship. Both men live on a sparsely populated island and had apparently spent their whole lives hanging out and drinking together at the pub. Colm wants to end this and Pádraic can't understand why. Things can only get worse, with Pádraic doggedly fighting to reconcile and Colm fighting to stay apart.
The movie uses the backdrop of the Irish civil war to set the tone of an incomprehensible and pointless feud, but the movie often times feels like an ironic, adult retelling of a Punch & Judy show. The Island of Inisherin is populated by stock archetypes; the village idiot, the thuggish policeman, the evil old witch, there's even an equivalent to the sausage stealing crocodile. And like Punch & Judy there is a leaping escalation of farce and violence the longer it goes on.
If there is a central theme to Banshees, it is one of creeping loneliness. The simple minded islanders stave it off with their drink and chatter, whilst the wiser figures crumple under their own boredom and despair. For fans of Martin Mc Donagh movies, this will all feel very familiar. He has a knack for finding the humour in deeply miserable and self-destructive people.
I don't want to deter people too much from the film. Banshees is a treat for Mc Donagh fans and anyone with a dark sense of humour. It's also a very beautiful film, full of dramatic Irish landscapes. We understand that it must be hell to live there for any length of time, but it looks lovely all the same. My only other piece of advice would be to watch this film with the subtitles on. Whilst the whole film is in English, the period Irish slang can be borderline incomprehensible at times and I need to read what was said just to be sure I heard it correctly.
Film That's The Way to Do It
I often use this opening bit to talk personally about the film I'm watching, establishing my biases and preconceptions so that you will know how they influenced my opinion. Sadly, The Banshees of Inisherin is no different. I've only recently started seeing the other side of a protracted period of depression, and a lot of the events of the movie ring true to the kind of feelings I've had in the past. I would warn people with low mood to maybe give this film a miss until they are in a better frame of mind. For everyone else though? Great stuff!
The movie tells the story of the end of Pádraic and Colm's friendship. Both men live on a sparsely populated island and had apparently spent their whole lives hanging out and drinking together at the pub. Colm wants to end this and Pádraic can't understand why. Things can only get worse, with Pádraic doggedly fighting to reconcile and Colm fighting to stay apart.
The movie uses the backdrop of the Irish civil war to set the tone of an incomprehensible and pointless feud, but the movie often times feels like an ironic, adult retelling of a Punch & Judy show. The Island of Inisherin is populated by stock archetypes; the village idiot, the thuggish policeman, the evil old witch, there's even an equivalent to the sausage stealing crocodile. And like Punch & Judy there is a leaping escalation of farce and violence the longer it goes on.
If there is a central theme to Banshees, it is one of creeping loneliness. The simple minded islanders stave it off with their drink and chatter, whilst the wiser figures crumple under their own boredom and despair. For fans of Martin Mc Donagh movies, this will all feel very familiar. He has a knack for finding the humour in deeply miserable and self-destructive people.
I don't want to deter people too much from the film. Banshees is a treat for Mc Donagh fans and anyone with a dark sense of humour. It's also a very beautiful film, full of dramatic Irish landscapes. We understand that it must be hell to live there for any length of time, but it looks lovely all the same. My only other piece of advice would be to watch this film with the subtitles on. Whilst the whole film is in English, the period Irish slang can be borderline incomprehensible at times and I need to read what was said just to be sure I heard it correctly.