A Regular Person Reviews The Banshees Of Inisherin
The Banshees of Inisherin is a melodramatic movie set on a harsh beautiful island that may make you think about life.
(This review contains a brief analysis of the movie and I’ve kept it as vague as I can while still being able to provide my views. I believe there are no spoilers. But please don’t read it if you want a fresh unbiased experience!)
My partner suggested we watch The Banshees of Inisherin a couple of weeks ago because he enjoys the director’s works.
“Martin McDonagh directed Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri too,” he reminded me helpfully. That was all he needed to say. I enjoyed both of those movies, but especially Seven Psychopaths. So we watched The Banshees of Inisherin.
I was not disappointed. We later followed this movie up with In Bruges (also by McDonagh) since I hadn’t watched it, but that’s a story for another day!
Synopsis of The Banshees of Inisherin
The movie is set on a beautiful but remote island off the coast of Ireland. A war is happening on the mainland, and precious little is happening on the island. The most lively part of the island is the pub, the post office/grocery store, and the port.
Right away, the harsh beauty of the landscape and the simplicity of the people’s lives captured my attention. I would live there, I thought. Yeah, I didn’t know better.
Then we follow Colin Farrell’s character, Pádraic Súilleabháin, on a typical day of his life. Pádraic lives with his sister, Siobhán (played by Kerry Condon), an intelligent woman frustrated by the lack of prospects and pretty much everything else on the island.
He drops by his best friend’s house and we discover what was going to drive the plot. Pádraic’s best friend, Colm Doherty (played by Brendan Gleeson), had abruptly decided to stop being friends with him.
Why were they “rowing”? What happens now?
What happened following the friendship’s demise is a sequence of unexpected and dramatic events that I wouldn’t go into because I think you should watch the movie too.
