Movie Review: The Banshees of Inisherin

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A simply brilliant comedy-drama. 

This is one of those films that starts out as light and comedic and as it goes on gets darker and more serious. Often these films don't work for me as the shift in tone can feel forced and abrupt. However, that could not be further from the case here. The earlier funnier scenes do a wonderful job of building up to the darker scenes later and this is often done without you knowing what director/writer Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri) is doing. Instead, moments that may seem comedic and silly during these earlier scenes are actually raising the stakes for what is going to be happening later. It also helps that both the comedy and the drama come directly the characters and their relationships. This film often acts as a character study (for multiple characters), and it helps that both the funniest and the darkest moments add to the depth of these characters. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker these characters would have been strictly one note. In this movie though there are a lot of complexities beneath them.  Pádraic (Colin Farrell) not only considers himself as a "nice guy" but so does everyone else in this small Irish town. However, as the film goes on you see that some of the things, he does are not exactly what we would picture a "nice guy" doing. This leads us to wonder was he as nice of guy as everyone believed him to be. Perhaps he is a really "nice guy," who happens to have been pushed to his limits, perhaps he was never really a nice guy, or perhaps he is a man who has very strong virtues but just as strong of faults. This also causes us to look into ourselves and wonderful if we are ever the best judges of who we are personally. Colm (Brendan Gleeson) says that he is done with Pádraic and doesn't want to be his friend anymore. Yet there are times when he does show that he might actually still care for him. Still there are just as many times that he takes incredibly drastic measures to get Pádraic to leave him alone. Again, this makes the film all the more engaging and thought provoking. It doesn't hurt that these actors give truly wonderful performances here (Kerry Condon) is equally wonderful as Pádraic's sister. 

This is simply a must see movie.