Honestly, I can't understand what was so great about _The Banshees of Inisherin_. Did I watch the same movie as everyone else? My feelings about it are the same as Siobhán's feelings about the men on Inisherin. I'm always aching for original stories in Hollywood so maybe I hyped this movie up a lot in my head.

Nothing really happens in this film except for the complete overuse of the word _'feckin'_ (officially the most annoying word in the lexicon after this movie). I'm fine with films where _'nothing happens'_ but this never went anywhere.

I got the metaphor and the point, I understand the allegory and comparison to Ireland in the civil war, and how people don't change and would rather _'cut off their own fingers'_ to admit they were wrong, and I can appreciate the themes the script is trying to explore but that's just it, it tried and failed miserably at that. This movie is another case of when a film is more concerned with working on a metaphorical level that it forgets that it needs to work on a literal level as well, there’s got to be a line between expressing a metaphor and making an entertaining film.

The film felt very tedious and exhausting. Dialogue is not awful not great. _The Banshees of Inisherin_ has no plot and an unexplained conflict, it drags the audience along in anticipation of an explanation for what's going on. I'm fine with leaving things unexplained to give people the chance to use their own imaginations but it's just that I expect there to be some sort of narrative conclusion when I go along with a story of a man cutting off his fingers for no sensible reason.

I can't really ding any of the technical aspects like cinematography, writing, and music, they are great but the whole package was kind of dull. I didn't feel one single emotion throughout the whole movie and didn't even realize it was a drama/comedy because I didn't chuckle even once. If you laugh when you hear someone say _'feckin'_ or _'miniature donkey'_, this movie is just for you.

_The Banshees of Inisherin_ is pretty much a character study of 2 very boring and annoying people, who act like middle schoolers for almost 90 minutes, and we know nothing about them, which means that movie is really boring to watch. Colm's motivation to stop being friends with Padraic is very childish. I would have really liked to see their relationship or what a conversation of theirs was like before Colm made this decision. I absolutely didn't care about none of them. Colin Ferrell and Brendan Gleeson are good but absolutely not a standout performance.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but this film just didn't really do it for me. I was probably expecting too much.

[8.0/10] The strange thing about *The Banshees of Inisherin* is that, on the surface, it’s a very down to earth film. Writer-director Martin McDonagh and cinematographer Ben Davis find any number of scenic gorgeous vistas to shoot off the Irish coast, painterly compositions to frame the characters within, and the glint of natural lighting to make it all look perfect. But despite all that craft behind the scenes, the fictional berg of Inisherin seems like a genuine, unshowy place, with visuals that highlight the hardscrabble nature of the place surrounded by such beauty. It feels real and regular amid all the artistry at play.

The same goes for the film’s central performances, which come off lived-in and genuine. Longtime collaborator Colin Farrell has aged appropriately into a character actor, pouring himself into poor Pádraic, a dim but thoroughly nice everyman who struggles with the end of his closest friendship. Brendan Gleeson is a pithy open wound as his former best Colm, with every small expression giving the sense of a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Kerry Condon is lively but sharp as Pádraic’s sister, Siobhán, who’s too smart for this town full of gossipy dullards, but does her best to hold it together anyway. And even the most outsized character in the bunch, Dominic, the local dope (played by Barry Keoghan) is recognizable as a the sort of poor schmuck with no tact but the kind of problems at home that make him sympathetic anyway. Each brings a naturalistic approach in their acting that makes these characters, their conflicts, and their relationships feel real and textured, which is essential for such a character-driven piece.

When Pádraic sits and feels the weight of his loneliness, when Colm gives a ten-thousand yard stare and contemplates his dwindling years, when Siobhán grows teary-eyed at embarking on a new life and leaving her brother behind, when Dominic gets rejected and you see the sincere heart beneath the gormless exterior, you feel the relatable emotions and convincing predicaments of them all. You’d never mistake *The Banshees of Inisherin* for a documentary, but its unshowy approach gives it the sense of something grounded and authentic.

And yet, at the same time, the film is more than a touch absurd, more than a touch outsized, more than a touch treating its story like a fable as much as a genuine tale of four people’s experiences on an Irish island in the middle of nowhere. Real people don’t gradually cut their own fingers off and throw them at a neighbor’s doorstep to convince them to leave them alone. Real people don’t lose their favorite miniature donkeys due to choking on an ex-pal’s digit, only to declare the date and time when they’ll burn the offender’s house down (but not before saving the dog, of course). Hell, real people probably don’t go from being a dear friend to someone to “Never talk to me again because you’re so dull that you’re wasting my remaining time on this earth” from one day to the next either.

Amid all the trappings of reality in *The Banshees of Inisherin*, it is, at heart, a larger-than life tall tale. There’s a very writerly quality to the plot, with the characters taking dramatic or bizarre actions that the others in the story mostly take in stride. As recognizable as Pádraic, Colm, Siobhán, and Dominic seem, they’re also walking symbols for bigger ideas about what we should value in our fellow man, and what we overlook in them. When you step back and survey the film, there’s not nearly as much reality in it as you might think, but there’s plenty of truth.

Some of the unreality comes from McDonagh’s trademark black comedy. Pádraic fending off a potential rival for Colm’s friendship by telling him that his father’s been struck by a bread truck, only to discover that the poor sod’s mother was killed by a bread truck, is a completely absurd but utterly hilarious twist. A bleak line like, “It was all going fine until he chopped off all his fingers” is, somehow, a laugh riot. And Siobhán justified beleaguered disbelief at the madness all around her brings the laughs from her reactions alone. The chuckles here are dark as all get out, but strangely, that manages to make the comedy better and help buttress a story that borders on magical realism in places.

The breaks from reality help serve a bigger idea at play here. For all his being dull, Pádraic is a good man. He looks out for Dominic. He stands up to Dominic’s dad. He misses his sister. And he loves a little miniature donkey whom he’d like to keep in his house. No one will remember Pádraic. He’ll leave no mark on history. But perhaps there’s more to life than that, and preserving that sort of goodness in the world, if only for one unremarkable lifetime, is worth more than putting something into the world that will last for centuries.

That seems to be the arc of Colm, who wants to eschew Pádraic’s friendship so that he can focus on achieving something grand in his waning years, only to see the trouble caused, the nice man he corrupts, through his not-so-benign neglect. At one point in the film, the priest intercedes on Pádraic’s behalf, and Colm asks if not talking to his one time friend is a sin. The answers in the negative, but you get a sense that through such peculiar events, such drastic choices across the board, that lead to a broken man left without those who gave his life meaning, Colm starts to regret his actions, his putting legacy over decency, given the tragedies great and small that follow.

The Emerald Isle patter mixed with layman’s philosophy, the layered characters who make grandiose gestures, the humble setting interspersed with absurd, sometimes tragic events, give *The Banshees of Inisherin* a poetic, almost lyrical quality. It sneaks in its outsized meditation on what we should value in one another and ourselves through signifiers to make a ridiculous situation feel as real as it is poignant. The film roots itself in the low-to-the-ground lives of four simple people and the humble world they inhabit. But it uses that setting, and that tone, as a springboard to reach for something wild and transcendent beneath it, and within.

Adored this movie. Solid performances, amazing screenplay, and McDonagh’s most gorgeous looking film to date. All of the actors were fantastic in this. This has to be my favorite film of the year.

One of my favorite moments of the film was Siobhan correcting Colm about Mozart. It shows that Colm was not as smart as he appeared to be, and cracked open his wise old man facade. He was being truthful to about his reasons for tanking the friendship, but his methods for doing so are still bullshit. He is wise, but also bitter and stubborn, and that so he thinks that the key to breaking his monotony is by suffering.

Colm resents Pádraic for being content with his simple life and not being concerned with having a legacy or being remembered beyond those he cares about in life. Colm, due to his frustration with his own existence, concludes that the only reason Pádraic is so content and untroubled is because he is dull and stupid.

Ironically I think Pádraic is actually Colm's muse, after each encounter with an impassioned Pádraic Colm seems to progress with his work on his magnum opus 'The Banshees of Inisherin'.

Moral of the story, in my opinion, is that men create meaningless conflict for contrived reasons and that leads to innocents being hurt (kind of like a civil war).

The Banshees of Inisherin is a stellar film with fantastic cinematography, tremendous performances, and an intriguing plot that will stay with viewers long past the credits. The stories set up does a fantastic job at engaging the audience, we feel for Padraic, truly wanting to know why his lifelong friend would "ghost" him. This sense of despair soon leads to horror as the plot progresses, creating some uncomfortable moments for both our main character and the audience. Overall, there is just something about this movie that is able to hook me. I had many laughs mixed while feeling completely heartbroken for Padriac. It is a slow burn film, with not much action, but the performances and dialogue are able to carry this movie to completion, resulting in a very unique experience.

Score: 88%
Verdict: Excellent

This is one of the most brilliant movies I've seen in a long time. I understand why some people might not fully appreciate the story (which reminds me of Aronofsky's Black Swan in that it's a painfully slow descent into Hell). I find this film as complex as a fine scotch, or a fine wine. The top note is, of course, the beautiful visuals created by Ben Davis. The acting all around is phenomenal. Farrell and Gleeson were, of course, nothing short of spectacular. The real surprise was the character created by Barry Keoghan. I couldn't help but be amazed by how real his character was. Although I was expecting the banshees to be like in the horror film I saw as a kid, I really appreciated the Shakespearean witch device. It was perfect in this context. The second note of flavor of this masterpiece is all about relationships in a closed community. If you ever lived in a condo, an association community or the like, you will recognize the day-to-day pettiness that everyone thinks is so important. A subtle addition to the complex layers of flavor is Burwell's perfect score. And the deep flavor of this movie? It is the parallel that the protagonists finally draw to the meaninglessness of the Civil War that rages on the mainland. If two people within a single tribe cannot make a peace, how is this poor world ever going to live?