Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 4, 2023 21:03:28 GMT -8
The Banshees of Inisherin
I like small, Irish or Scottish movies set in a small village or town with subject matter that is simple and plain. Think of "The Man Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain," "Waking Ned Divine," "Local Hero," or a dozen or so others of the sort.
The Banshees of Inisherin is one such film. It's set on an island right off the Irish coast (presumably set in the 50's or 60's). Colin Farrell stars as Pádraic Súilleabháin. (No, there will not be a spelling nor pronunciation test at the end of this review.) He is long-time friends with a fellow named Colm Doherty.
Colm suddenly tells Pádraic that he wasn't nothing more to do with him. They didn't have a fight. It's just that Colm doesn't want to associate with him anymore.
This sends the somewhat simple Pádraic into a spin. It's a small island. There's not much to do. And he's losing a friend for reasons he can't begin to imagine.
And that's the set-up. And, yeah, it's not an earth-shattering plot. This is a small human-interest story, part comedy (a very small part), part tragedy, part just weird. The reigning mood is bleak.
This isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. In fact, I'm not really sure it was mine. But this is a serious production with good acting. I will agree with this one reviewer at IMDB:
Now, that's not to say that it didn't have an ending. In fact, it wasn't a bad ending, all things considered. But some of the plot points seemed over-the-top and took this from being a warm, homespun rural adventure to something far more surreal. Any chance of the warm-fuzzies coming out of this were nixed.
I like small, Irish or Scottish movies set in a small village or town with subject matter that is simple and plain. Think of "The Man Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain," "Waking Ned Divine," "Local Hero," or a dozen or so others of the sort.
The Banshees of Inisherin is one such film. It's set on an island right off the Irish coast (presumably set in the 50's or 60's). Colin Farrell stars as Pádraic Súilleabháin. (No, there will not be a spelling nor pronunciation test at the end of this review.) He is long-time friends with a fellow named Colm Doherty.
Colm suddenly tells Pádraic that he wasn't nothing more to do with him. They didn't have a fight. It's just that Colm doesn't want to associate with him anymore.
This sends the somewhat simple Pádraic into a spin. It's a small island. There's not much to do. And he's losing a friend for reasons he can't begin to imagine.
And that's the set-up. And, yeah, it's not an earth-shattering plot. This is a small human-interest story, part comedy (a very small part), part tragedy, part just weird. The reigning mood is bleak.
This isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. In fact, I'm not really sure it was mine. But this is a serious production with good acting. I will agree with this one reviewer at IMDB:
Super locations. Great photography. Masterful Production design. The acting is world class. So why didn't I enjoy this film? Because it promises to say something and goes nowhere.
Now, that's not to say that it didn't have an ending. In fact, it wasn't a bad ending, all things considered. But some of the plot points seemed over-the-top and took this from being a warm, homespun rural adventure to something far more surreal. Any chance of the warm-fuzzies coming out of this were nixed.
So it's sort of compelling, and yet it does seem to promise to say something but goes nowhere. As this same reviewer said, "It's dark but a slow almost empty darkness." I agree. So you wonder why I would spend the time to review such a film. The reason is that it is a quality production. You may or may not like it. But it's not the usual garbage.