Susan Granger’s review of “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures)
Critics Choice and Golden Globes nominees Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson deliver memorable performances in “The Banshees of Inisherin” but whether you want to spend two hours in their company on an isolated island off the coast of Ireland is purely a matter of choice.
Set in 1923, this tragicomedy follows the fractured friendship of amiable Padraic Suilleabhain (Colin Farrell) and stolid Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson). Accustomed to meeting every afternoon for a pint of stout at the local pub, Padraic cannot understand why Colm now refuses to join him there – or even engage in conversation.
“I just don’t like you no more,” grumpy Colm says.
“You do like me,” child-like Padraic insists, refusing to accept Colm’s obstinate rejection.
In this tiny, close-knit community, despairing Colm, who loves composing songs on his fiddle, lives alone with his dog while Padraic, a dim-witted dairy farmer, shares a small cottage with his steadfast, yet exasperated older sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and his beloved miniature donkey.
When tortured Colm realizes that badgering Padraic is not amenable to leaving him alone, he ominously threatens to cut off his pudgy fingers with a garden shears. As the plot unfolds, stoic Colm makes good on this promise of self-mutilation.
Meanwhile, others get involved – like the puzzled publican (Pat Shortt), ghoulish soothsayer (Sheila Flitton), ineffectual priest (David Pesrse), surly policeman (Gary Lydon) and his vulnerable son (Barry Keoghn).
This existential black comedy, created by writer/director Martin McDonagh (“In Bruges,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), who has a penchant for grisly, blood-soaked imagery, tries to draw some sort of metaphoric parallel between the Padraic /Colm feud and the Irish Civil War that’s occurring on the mainland but the comparison seems pallid.
FYI: “Banshee” is the Anglicized term for the Irish “bean si” which meant “fairy woman,” a spirit who could foretell an impending death, and Padraic Sulleabhain is the Gaelic spelling for Patrick Sullivan.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Banshees of Inisherin” is a caustic, stifling, sorrowful 6 – streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV and HBO Max.
