Having just watched the movie, I must say that I completely agree with your review. This is in fact one of those movies that, while I definitely didn\'t like, I can attest to the fact that it was well made, had a clear intent and went all-out on it, ending good.
While what turned me off was the fact that everyone was a jerk (and the movie points that out) and the plot once set in motion was kinda predictable, I do agree that everything else was a treat: The vistas, the symbolic details characterizing both Padraic and Colm and how the background of the war defines both characters. Colm\'s pet is a border collie, one of the most intelligent dog breeds, while Padraic\'s is Jenny the Donkey (who is smart enough to open doors, but also too stupid to not crap on the house and chew what it shouldn\'t). Colm\'s house is filled with all sorts of memorabilia from several different cultures, whereas Padraic\'s house is empty (discounting his sister\'s books, unless his animals get in) and, much like the war constantly referenced (\"Good luck to you, whathever you\'re fighting about\") for us, this seems like a pointless but inevitable feud that escalates because of the nature from both characters: Padraic is too stupid to read even the clearest signs that Colm just want to be left alone and is unable to cope with the despair and loneliness creeping through the island, while Colm, for all his culture and intelligence, cannot fathom that he could try to negotiate with Padraic and that his \'poetic\' messages of cutting his fingers would fly over the head of Padraic\'s simple mind, thus achieving nothing besides making his misery worse.
In the end, the only person to achieve something is Siobhan, who read right that this isolation and misery brings nothing good to anyone, and thus gets out of the island. Weirdly, I\'ve read some snippets of something \'good\' happening, Colm is finally left alone enough to achieve some peace and is humming a song (meaning he didn\'t quit making music) and Padraic\'s anger gives him something to focus on, even if his misery just multiplied tenfold. Its like a Chekhov\'s piece with a lot more swearing.
And yes the irish slang was nearly incomprehensible.
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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.