A fecking Irish film- 'The Banshees of Inisherin'

 

Now quite a lot of my family is Irish, whether that be my northern Irish mother or my southern Irish grandmother on my dads side, yet I have not seen that many films set in or based on Ireland. I felt like I should have brought my Irish passport to my cinema trip to see 'The Banshees of Inisherin', the demographic of the film was definitely Irish viewers over the age of 40. 

Knowing very little about this film going into the viewing I was excited to understand what the plot of this film was about, knowing only it was about friendship on a  remote island off Ireland and that Colin Farrell played opposite Domhnall Gleeson's dad. Brendan Gleeson played an old  pudgy fiddle player very well, though I doubt this was a challenging role for him, whilst Farrell's character Pádraic was an inherently likeable protagonist. 

I was aware this film was meant to be a comedy of sorts yet despite the few laughs scattered about the film it was a lot more darker than comedic in nature. Pádraic's character offered a lot of comedic relief throughout the dark choices Colm made throughout the plot yet I found Kerry Condon's Siobhán was the corner stone for humour in this film. It wasn't that this film didn't land the moments intended to be light hearted, it definitely did, it was more the quantity of these moments lacked in the film I was informed was the main genre. The duos of characters like Pádriac and Dominic or Siobhán and Colm witty dialogue worked well. However after about 30 minutes of the film I was tired of the films used of the work 'fecking', if anything it reminded me of Fantastic Mr Fox's use of the word 'cuss' to replace any swear words, yet it wasn't humorous to me by the end. Although Im not sure if that was the aim or not in this dialogue choice. 

The film used still and panning shots of the rugged Irish landscape, often highlighting just how isolating this Ireland was, which was beautiful. Giving both a sense of desolation and peacefulness. This paired with the Carter Brunwell's score was a perfect choice to scatter amongst the films dialogues, weirdly reminding me of Thomas Newmans WALL-E score which really isn't the movie comparison I thought Id be making when I started writing this review- but oh well. 

Often how I review a film depends on how I would describe it to other people and which (if any) of my friends I would recommend it to, for example my favourite film of all time is 'Good Will Hunting' which Id recommend highly to my fellow film fan bestie Anna yet wouldn't recommend it to my girlfriend as I know she'd think its slow and nothing really happens. This film is quite a tricky one to decide. I saw it with my Mum and Dad who both said they loved the film mainly for its ability to spark nostalgia for them, my English friends aren't going to get that from the film. The tragic comedy nature of the film worked well but as mentioned before worked well for the older audience demographic. I see how lots of people, including its many rave reviews, think this film was brilliant. I am still undecided. 

The general plot of the film did keep me engaged, which is impressive considering the only plot is a friendship ending on a very boring island. However I was surprised how slow this film felt, wanting to complain about the fun time when I left the viewing only to realise it really wasn't that long. 

I doubt I will rewatch this film anytime soon and still am unsure what to say if friends ask my opinions on it, but to conclude one thing this film did do perfectly was highlight the themes running throughout. Whether then be legacy, loneliness or inconsequentialness, the emotions presented by the entirety of the ensemble cast highlighted these perfectly. 

Plus shoutout to my favourite character Jenny, may she rest in peace. 

Evie 30 October 2022