The Banshees of Inisherin

The film, now playing in theaters, stars Dubliners Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who reunite with director-writer Martin McDonagh, with whom they made In ...

“The sunsets and the skies were fantastic and lent themselves to a beautiful piece.” It was a dream to be able to come to these places.” Ultimately, McDonagh says he sought to create one of the most beautiful Irish films in cinematic history. McDonagh says he wanted to “capture the beauty of Ireland in the film and lean into that. The story is dark enough anyway, but we wanted the visuals and the locations to be as cinematic as possible.” For example, the mountainous geography of Inisherin impacts the story. The film would not have been possible without help from the locals on Inishmore and Achill, McDonagh adds. It was so strange and anomalous to have weather that was as consistently beautiful and almost Greek.” Condon adds that filming in Inishmore was like a “spiritual” experience: “The locations and scenery are characters in themselves.” “We came back a few steps from the coastline and found a location on the edge of the cliff to build the house, looking down over one long end of the island towards an ancient monument called Dún Aonghasa. Although the fictional island of Inisherin is unaffected, the tension on the mainland is palpable. The Banshees of Inisherin is set in 1923, just as the Civil War was raging in Ireland. Although he was born in London, McDonagh’s parents are Irish—his mother from Sligo and his father from Galway—and The Banshees of Inisherin pays tribute to the filmmaker’s heritage. “Inisherin is a fictional island, so I didn’t want it to be specifically one place,” adds McDonagh. For starters, the characters Pádraic and Colm were written specifically for Farrell and Gleeson, respectively—two of the most lauded, respected Irish actors working today.

Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and writer-director Martin McDonagh reunite for a spiritual sequel to their 2008 assassin comedy-thriller In Bruges.

And until it strays off course, it remains a nuanced expression of this idea in the present, causing its characters to curdle and contort as they begin to believe they’re running out of time. As McDonagh tries to put words to his ethereal themes of mortality and remembrance in The Banshees of Inisherin, it winds up reading like an attempt to ground intangible spiritual dilemmas in concrete reasoning and definitive emotional paths. 21, with a national rollout to follow over the next few weeks. All of which makes the story more didactic and moralizing than the first two acts suggest it’s going to be. Colm doesn’t come right out and say it, but his sudden desire to create and to be remembered, like his idol Mozart, feels directly informed by the looming specter of death. The actual violence never touches Inisherin’s shores, and there’s certainly a case to be made that the film’s tale of brother turning against brother is a metaphor for the conflict, albeit a flimsy one. As the story unfolds, the absurdist playwright in McDonagh comes rushing to the fore in a way it hasn’t in any of his films since In Bruges. The Banshees of Inisherin is a return to familiar territory for writer-director Martin McDonagh: It plays like a spiritual sequel to his pitch-black 2008 comedy-thriller In Bruges. But McDonagh can’t quite find the right way to string all his heavy themes together once he enters its final act. He’s checking in on his pal Colm Doherty (Gleeson) to invite him to the local pub for a pint, per their usual routine. Those glimpses imbue the film with a borderline romantic warmth, which cinematographer Ben Davis paints with the dim flickers of candle- and lamplight. This time around, they play much simpler men — a farmer and a musician, respectively — but they have the same anguish as their assassin counterparts, resulting in a film that maintains a spiritual vice grip over its audience, in spite of the charming setting.

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson re-team for Martin McDonagh's riotous fable that's about more than a friend breakup.

But that dialogue is meant to take on a note of bitter irony — or perhaps the darkest of comedy, which are two sides of the same coin in Ireland. In the end, the characters muse that the conflict across the way seems to be subsiding, and it seems the conflict on Inisherin might be too, in the darkest of manners. The break between Colm and Pádraic works on its own terms, but it’s also a startlingly violent fight between men who are basically brothers, a fight that has a logic to it and yet is heartbreaking precisely because of the depth of history between them. In The Banshees of Inisherin, there’s no literal banshee, but it’s clear that’s the role that Mrs. They’re fantastic in the roles, Gleeson as a world-weary grump and Farrell as a naif who seems to be missing a few screws. The reason for the break is elusive to Pádraic, and even a bit elusive to Colm, who just can’t deal with his friend anymore.

But Martin McDonagh's new film, starring an impressive cadre of Ireland's best and brightest, was actually filmed across a smattering of islands off the coast ...

We wanted to take advantage of different islands in the country rather than just one. There’s lots of unspoiled coast, it was just a matter of finding it. They’re right off the coast of Galway, you take this boat over and then you’re really at the mercy of the locals.

Martin McDonagh's 'The Banshees of Inisherin' stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, along with a donkey scene-stealer in the form of Jenny.

I was a big fan of some of her acting choices.” Colin was hand-feeding both of them,” Rita explains, and Jenny “got a little ‘me, me, me.’ So when Colin was walking behind her, she said, ‘Well, stuff you,’ and gave him a little kick. “Whether you’re the sound guy, you’re making the sandwiches, delivering the lines — if you know what your purpose is, you’ve got a chance to be comfortable. “A film set can be an intimidating environment, and the best way to feel like you belong there is to know exactly what your purpose is,” he tells Vulture. “We were doing a scene, and it was the first time that she was in close proximity to Minnie the pony. A donkey is a donkey is a donkey. There’s a fundamental loss of innocence for Pádraic, whose belief that it’s enough to be kind and good clashes with Colm’s existential crisis and his need to create something that will live on after his death — something loftier than just a sweet friendship with a donkey. And she knew she was different. She was a miniature donkey, but she was different, because she was very petite. “She was absolutely petite and absolutely perfect. They existed and led a life where they just did their job and that was it.” Rita could just as easily be talking about Pádraic, who has existed peacefully in a humble life with his beloved sister, caring for his small gaggle of animals and whiling away the hours down at the local pub, chatting and drinking with Colm. The humble donkey might not command the same level of cinematic reverence as their leggier cousin the horse, but sweet Jenny’s presence in The Banshees of Inisherin speaks to Pádraic’s gentle character.

There's excellent support too from Kerry Condon as Pádraic's sister Siobhan, and Barry Keoghan as the island simpleton Dominic, who is 'against wars and ...

“I just don’t like you anymore,” Colm (Brendan Gleeson) tells Pádraic (Colin Farrell) as The Banshees of Inisherin (16s) begins. Best pals in real life, and reunited for the first time since McDonagh’s In Bruges (2008), Gleeson and Farrell are terrific here as the embattled friends, with Farrell in especially good form as the betrayed and baffled Pádraic who – despite everything – insists on the importance of people being nice. The problem is that Colm is a musical man with one eye on his life’s legacy, and Pádraic is ‘a limited man’ whose inane conversation is distracting Colm from composing on his fiddle.