The Banshees Of Inisherin - Martin McDonagh

[Benny]

2 hours ago, cassidy said:

No it was just being men being fecking silly and childish. 

 

You know the reason why the world is fucked and all that. Just my take anyway. 

 

It could be thought of just that if you want to boil it down to what's going on in the real world yes. But sub textually and metaphorically there was a lot more to pick apart too.

[LeighCb]

2 hours ago, cassidy said:

No it was just being men being fecking silly and childish. 

 

You know the reason why the world is fucked and all that. Just my take anyway. 

Spoiler

how many fingers do you have left?

 

[Pete]

I've seen quite a few "worthy" films in the last few years that I've found a struggle to enjoy. I just assumed maybe my tastes have changed and I'm less into films, but no, all those films were boring.

 

This was beautiful, tightly written and I was sad when it was over. It wasn't as funny as in Bruges but I'm already looking forward to seeing it again, lots of small touches (such as who was carrying the pole with a hook and why) that make me want to come back. 

 

[Jolly]

Watched this yesterday and absolutely loved it. Felt like it was partly about being an introvert living in an extrovert world and really spoke to me on that level.

 

Farrell's eyebrows were also very entertaining.

[Alask]

I watched it and I’m not sure I liked it.

 

Spoiler

It’s horribly depressing. His sister is bang on when she shouts at Colm that all men are fucking boring with their piddling grievances over nothing. Which I guess is the point of the film, but it just not something I really want reminding of, I like to live in a happy little bubble.

So yeah, it’s a good film but it’s not one I’d recommend to anyone!

[JohnC]

Good movie with a particularly fine line in people and animals looking through windows and doors.

[Stanley]

This film really scratches that itch, like a thing that’s hard to put into words. 
 

It didn’t leave me feeling depressed or down at all though as some have mentioned after watching it. It did make me feel quite calm and relaxed. 

[Tequlia]

Struggled with it tbh but know I’m in a minority.  The only way I can really “reconcile” it in my head is by regarding it as a horror movie?  

 

Went into it having half-watched the trailer thinking it would be at most a dark comedy, but really; (SPOILERS!)

 

Spoiler

Profound harm caused by a friendship ending

Self-mutilation

Gore - the “thunk” those fingers made and the bloody residual left both made me wince

Corrupt/asshole policeman

Teenager regularly beaten by his father

Teenager has been sexually abused by father

Teenager drowns

An old lady increasingly resembles Death from The Seventh Seal

Cute animal dies

House burns down

 

Putting it like that sounds trite I know but approaching it as a horror film treats it more as what it actually is (to me anyway!)  Looks fantastic though and the acting is frankly amazing.   

[Pete]

It's an interesting way of looking at it, I was trying to convince my sister in Bruges was very funny and quite festive, she countered with a list of plot points much as you have done above.

 

Despite that I think the tone of both films is still light-heated and almost whimsical despite the subject matter? I think that's why I love them both, life is all about the absurd, comic, tragic and horrific bumping up against each other.

[Fry Crayola]

It's a very very very very very very very dark comedy. The priest's socks of dark comedies. 

 

I'm watching it again at some point in the next few days, having last saw it on the big screen.

[Tequlia]

2 hours ago, Pete said:

It's an interesting way of looking at it, I was trying to convince my sister in Bruges was very funny and quite festive, she countered with a list of plot points much as you have done above.

 

Despite that I think the tone of both films is still light-heated and almost whimsical despite the subject matter? I think that's why I love them both, life is all about the absurd, comic, tragic and horrific bumping up against each other.

 

(Caveating - I'm on the sherry so talking complete balls ) 

 

Yeah I think In Bruges is brilliant - it works as a literal fish-out-of-water comedy and even though hiding, they have a whole cityscape to move and breath in as characters which maybe helps downplay the "horror" of their situation and allows for that lighter tone(?)  In Banshees always feels close and claustrophobic - in spite of the expansive landscape they spend a lot of time at home or in the pub.

 

I keep coming back to the two general store/post office scenes. The first one has Padraic telling the shopkeeper about the boy getting beaten up; she indifferently shrugs and is like "whatever, the little shite had it coming" and in the second one, the same shopkeeper has basically steamed open the envelope the sister receives and bellows out the content before she can even finish it.  Both scenes have that comic surface but tonally to me are just horrible - there's a Wicker Man esq vibe of everyone knowing everyone else, your personal business is shared gossip, and how easy it is to upset the wrong person.

 

Conversely I might be overthinking this of course, but I can't get away from thinking when you're at very (x7!) dark comedy you're pretty much at horror.

 

 

 

 

[Benny]

That's for me why the film is so brilliant - it's always on the cusp of comedy, horror, farce or ennui. And the line between each is constantly blurred.

[Nathan Wind]

15 hours ago, Benny said:

That's for me why the film is so brilliant - it's always on the cusp of comedy, horror, farce or ennui. And the line between each is constantly blurred.

You’ve very succinctly summed up why it didn’t quite work for me. I felt it meandered between all of those and never really settled on what it was. I liked it, but I didn’t love it, especially as a huge fan of his other films.

[Ste Pickford]

Genres are just marketing categories.  You don't have to fit films (or anything else) firmly into specific marketing categories to be able to understand or appreciate them.  Just take the work as it comes and enjoy it for what it is.

[Kromeo]

Well said.

 

Life isn’t fully comedic, action-packed, horrific, erotic, or dramatic either. (Although one could argue it is a constant period piece.) And the best art reflect this.

[Kromeo]

It’s a superb film, IMHO. Funny yet troubling; light-hearted yet deeply moving. The beauty and barrenness of the landscape reflects this as well, and the performances are all spot on.

 

Kerry Condon, as the voice of reason, was the standout performance for me.

[Nathan Wind]

I just don’t appreciate art.
 

I play Trombone Champ with the fart noises on.  

[Benny]

That's just a different kind of art.

[Kromeo]

9 hours ago, Nathan Wind said:

I play Trombone Champ with the fart noises on.  

I do love it when a post and its username synergise well.

[crisy]

Should I give In Bruges another go? I remember it getting a lot of praise, but when I tried watching it a few years ago I bounced off it quite hard. It's tone was light hearted comedy but I didn't find it funny and disliked the characters. I think I got to the point where some comedy homophobia cropped up and I just turned it off.

[Tequlia]

15 minutes ago, crisy said:

Should I give In Bruges another go? I remember it getting a lot of praise, but when I tried watching it a few years ago I bounced off it quite hard. It's tone was light hearted comedy but I didn't find it funny and disliked the characters. I think I got to the point where some comedy homophobia cropped up and I just turned it off.

 

Absolutely 100% give it another go!

[crisy]

I think it's on channel 4 soon, so good timing

[Chadruharazzeb]

I'd hardly describe In Bruges as "light-hearted". 

[Oaf]

Christ, that was dire. 

[Nathan Wind]

On 26/12/2022 at 09:31, Ste Pickford said:

Genres are just marketing categories.  You don't have to fit films (or anything else) firmly into specific marketing categories to be able to understand or appreciate them.  Just take the work as it comes and enjoy it for what it is.

Come on, dad, you know that I know that. I’m saying that that for me it felt a bit aimless and there wasn’t quite enough there for me to ‘enjoy it for what it is’.

[JoeK]

On 27/12/2022 at 01:09, Kromeo said:

Well said.

 

Life isn’t fully comedic, action-packed, horrific, erotic, or dramatic either. (Although one could argue it is a constant period piece.) And the best art reflect this.

 

I dunno...my life is full on erotic horror all the time. I even had a muffin with some marmite on for breakfast.

[Cheeko]

Loved it, I’ve just moved back to Cornwall after living in Northern Ireland for the last 18 months, this film aligns so well with my experience over there.

 

Spoiler

Including the experience ending with a weight of sadness and frustration.

 

[MarkN]

On 27/12/2022 at 18:15, crisy said:

Should I give In Bruges another go? I remember it getting a lot of praise, but when I tried watching it a few years ago I bounced off it quite hard. It's tone was light hearted comedy but I didn't find it funny and disliked the characters. I think I got to the point where some comedy homophobia cropped up and I just turned it off.

I adore In Bruges. There are moments that probably wouldn't make it in there if it were made today. But it's one of those films where if it's on telly I will watch it. It's beautiful, funny, wonderfully sweary, and is chock full of great characters. A couple of bits I wince at, but otherwise an absolute favourite.

 

I need to watch Banshees again. Loved so many bits of it, but it didn't click with me. Then again I was very drunk, so any degree of nuance beyond heavy-handed may well have been lost on me.

[Fry Crayola]

45 minutes ago, Cheeko said:

Loved it, I’ve just moved back to Cornwall after living in Northern Ireland for the last 18 months, this film aligns so well with my experience over there.

 

My god, where did you live?!?

 

(I hope it was Belfast)

[K]

Just watched this; I thought it was excellent. McDonagh’s best film after In Bruges, and a wonderfully dark dialogue on aging, loneliness, legacies, and finding out what people really think of you. I feel like there isn’t much that discussion of male friendships and what happens when they end; loads of films are about men reconciling and reaffirming their relationships, but not many are about what happens when it just goes tits up and you don’t understand why. 
 

I have to confess that I preferred the first half. 

Spoiler

I can relate to most of the things that happen in the first hour or so - everyone’s had friendships that have gone a bit weird after a bit, and most people probably worry about whether they are a bit dull. When people start cutting their fingers off, it starts to feel quite unreal and a bit ridiculous. The second half was very compelling and beautifully executed, but I didn’t find myself quite so engaged with the characters because the situation was so extreme.

But that’s a pretty minor criticism in the grand scheme of things. It was a great film, and extremely funny. There were some incredible characters, like the shopkeeper who, with a handful of lines of dialogue, established that she was one of the most evil characters in any work of fiction..