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The Banshees of Inisherin is a film which grabbed me from the original trailer, but which has a very bizarre premise.
Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell – Thirteen Lives) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson – Edge of Tomorrow) are normally the best of friends, but one day, out of the blue, Colm turns to Pádraic in the pub, and tells him he no longer wants to speak to him again. His specious reasoning is “I just don’t like you no more“. But why, and how? He’s “Bored of dull conversations with a limited man“… Is that really it?
And what happens if Pádraic breaks this ultimatum? One by one, Colm will cut off one of his left-hand fingers for every time this happens, the left hand being the one he uses to play the fiddle, on which he’s currently writing a new tune entitled “The Banshees of Inisherin”.
There are a number of humorous moments in this, despite the potentially grisly forthcomings, such as when the initial ‘break-up’ happens, and wherever Pádraic goes, he’s asked “Are you two rowing?“, once – after he described how he went to Colm’s house and saw him smoking, yet ignored him – “Was he asleep?“, to which comes the reply, “How can he be asleep if he was smoking?”
Set in late March 1923, apparently during a civil war (although we see no evidence of this), The Banshees of Inisherin has light humour, dark humour and some very dark moments, all in unequal measure, but all coming at the right time. I figured this film would get a screening in its first week, and then die on its backside after that, but it was very busy on the Sunday afternoon, and had the crowd wincing at certain times, whilst laughing loudly at others, so it hit the right mark.
There’s gorgeous locations on view, and brilliant interplay between the actors, including Barry Keoghan (The Batman) as young lad Dominic Kearney, who’s a bit thick, but has the hots for Siobhan – Pádraic’s sister, but while Pádraic is content to live on the island and tend to his livestock, she’s bored senseless and wants to move away for a proper career on the mainland, and hopes that one day, he’ll follow suit, since there’s precious little out there to occupy the mind.
After all, if there’s no TV, videogames or Netflix, what are you going to do??
The Banshees of Inisherin does rather go on a little too long, but is well worth the near-two hours spent on it, and if you can catch it on the big screen, it’s worth it.
Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson previously worked with writer/director Martin McDonagh on 2008’s superb In Bruges, which was 14 years ago. I saw a brief interview with the pair, with Gleeson stating that they should only leave it 7 years next time, rather than 14, to ensure there’s a better chance of him still being around to make it! 🙂
The Banshees of Inisherin is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, you can buy the paperback.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 109 minutes
Release date: October 21st 2022
Studio: Searchlight Pictures
Format: 2.39:1
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 8/10
Director: Martin McDonagh
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Martin McDonagh
Screenplay: Martin McDonagh
Music: Carter Burwell
Cast:
Pádraic Súilleabháin: Colin Farrell
Colm Doherty: Brendan Gleeson
Siobhan Súilleabháin: Kerry Condon
Dominic Kearney: Barry Keoghan
Peadar Kearney: Gary Lydon
Jonjo Devine: Pat Shortt
Mrs. McCormick: Sheila Flitton
Mrs. O’Riordan: Bríd Ní Neachtain
Gerry: Jon Kenny
Declan: Aaron Monaghan
Priest: David Pearse
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.