The Banshees of Inisherin

MORE SPOILER-FREE MINI-REVIEWS @ https://www.msbreviews.com/movie-reviews/other-films-watched-lff-2022 "The Banshees of Inisherin is a classic tragicomedy from Martin McDonagh: genuinely hilarious and deceptively inconsequential until it ceases to be. Despite the expected tonal shift, the narrative follows an even darker path than expected, and the turning point is capable of leaving some viewers "lost" for a while. Nevertheless, the filmmaker delivers a brutal, shocking story about friendship and the importance of some alone time. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are absolutely brilliant, as are Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan. One of the most stunning films of the year - gorgeously shot by Ben Davis - in addition to being accompanied by a lovely yet haunting score (Carter Burwell)." Rating: B+

I really did enjoy this film, but I can't say I am entirely sure what the point of it was...! Colin Farrell is "Pádraic", a man who routinely spends his days down the pub with his friend "Colm" (Brendan Gleeson) before returning home to their small dairy farm where he lives with his itchy-footed sister "Siobhan" (Kerry Condon). Out of the blue one day, his pal refuses to talk to him. He goes and sits elsewhere or outside their tiny pub. Nobody knows why. Confronting this head on, we discover that "Pádraic" is dull. He spends hours droning on about the contents of his donkey's manure and, well, poor old "Colm" has had enough. Indeed, so fed up is he, he swears to cut off one of his fingers - from his fiddle-playing hand - if his erstwhile buddy doesn't leave him alone. The consequences of this ostensibly trivial falling out soon spiral and that, to be fair, is where it stopped being a funny take on friendship and Irish rural life, and starts to become a bit darker and where I sort of got lost with the purpose (if there was one) or meaning of the tale. Meantime, the real star of the film - aside from the midget-donkey - is Barry Keoghan with his superbly honest portrayal of "Dominic". An outwardly simple lad who lives with his thuggish, policeman, father; who has the hots for "Siobhan"; a penchant for poteen and who provides much of the humour in this entertaining and quirky observational drama. The photography of this Irish island community is glorious and the sense of community - warts and all - is well captured by Martin McDonagh's pithy writing and simple direction. The two stars are on as good a form as I have ever seen them, with Gleeson using his sparing dialogue to full effect and Farrell conveying the evolving sensations of bemusement to anger convincingly too. It's a curious film, this, but I'd highly recommend it.