Premiere this Thursday (02) one of the films with the highest number of Oscar nominations 2023. Inisherin’s Banshees competes for nine statuettes, second only to Everything Everywhere at the Same Time. This number is impressive, but it is totally understandable given the weight of its cast and also the originality of its script.
At the same time, this slightly more complicated title might scare some people off. Let’s agree that Inisherin’s Banshees it doesn’t say much and it’s hard to be interested in something like that at first glance. However, the Martin McDonagh-directed feature is one of the best things to hit theaters this year and a strong contender to take home some Oscars next month.
If you have no idea what it’s about, learn more about the feature, the reasons why it’s been so popular and why you should see this story in the cinema.
When a friendship ends
The premise of Inisherin’s Banshees it’s quite banal. Overnight, two residents of a remote island in Ireland end a friendship. It’s actually a monocratic ending, with Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) deciding he wants nothing more to do with Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) as he finds him too boring.
It is clear that the reasons for this sudden termination are deeper than that and that are deepened throughout the almost two hours of film and will be directly related to the isolation with which the residents of the island live. Thus, this abruptness is just a desperate cry for something bigger that is developed throughout the plot in a very subtle and interesting way.
At the same time, we have Pádraic not accepting this distancing. As a simple-minded boy who believes that the only thing you can expect from life is kindness, he doesn’t understand his former friend’s decision and starts with different attempts to resume the friendship – which can lead the whole island down a very unexpected path. .
In addition to them, other characters make up this tiny universe of Inisherin and whose existence will only expand the idea of loneliness and isolation that the script addresses. From Pádraic’s sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) to the awkward Dominic (Barry Keoghan), everyone experiences this void differently and feels its effects in their own way.
The strength of a cast
And because it is a very simple story, set in a single place and composed of very few characters, Inisherin’s Banshees needs to support itself in weight performances – which happens with praise around here. Not by chance, these four central actors are running for Oscars for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Impossible a better attestation of quality.
The main highlight is the chemistry between Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who had already worked together on In the Boss’s Sight — which is run by Martin McDonagh himself. According to the filmmaker, it was the experience in this film that made him want to reunite the duo once more and he wrote this script already imagining the actors in the roles, which also explains the great dynamic between them.
And although he appears very little on screen compared to the others, Keoghan is one of those characters who steal the show whenever they appear. He is a boy victim of his father’s abuse and who expresses well the effects of loneliness in his inability to relate to others.
Between drama and humor
In addition to obvious talent, the cast of Inisherin’s Banshees it also shines a lot because of the script, which perfectly balances humor and drama so that it is difficult to classify the feature. He’s not so funny as to become a comedy, but he has a lightness even in the face of complex situations that doesn’t quite make it a drama.
It is on this tightrope, half one thing and half another, that this drama conquers the public. And this is done in such a simple way, from intelligent dialogues that are there to reveal more of the personality of each of the characters, as well as highlight the loneliness and naivety of each one of them.
Thus, even when you delve into the melancholy discourse of the plot, you are still able to see these small brushstrokes of innocence that give a little more color to the always gray landscape of this depressing island.
Inisherin’s Banshees hits theaters this Thursday, February 2; secure your entry ingresso.com.
