Movie Review: The Banshees of Inisherin
Colm and Padraic are best of friends till the end. The question is whose end?
Despite the disappointment at not winning even one out of its numerous Oscar nominations. this movie is still a solid, even though it’s not for everyone.
Quick recap
Pad and Colm have been best buds for years that it until one day when Colm decides he is done with the friendship because Pad is dull and unexciting and isn’t adding to his life. Pad is heartbroken as anyone would be and tries to mend the fence, but is pushed back every single time. Things take a turn for the worse when Colm threaten to cut out his fingers one by one if Pad insists on talking to him. Believing his friend would not stoop that low to mutilate himself and hamper his music writing journey, Pad insists on making amends pushing Colm to carry out his threat until the entire left hand is without fingers.
The recap is enough to raise questions, I know, but imagine watching it. My entire head was spinning at the idea that someone would go out of his way to remove his fingers because he doesn’t want the other to speak to him.
Pad
Pad hangs on the fact he is a nice guy, even the nicest in the village and doesn't see why Colm would just want to end their friendship. In trying to prove Colm wrong, he unveils an ugly part of him that shows that he isn’t all daffodils and roses. He may infact be the worse person in the village and is actually duller than the village dullard. How does your friend threaten to cut off his fingers if you talk to him and even after he keeps to this threat the first time, you insistently keep trying to talk to him. I mean, let him be already. It hurts, yes, but would you rather have a fingerless friend or just end things amicably? Pad isn’t a nice guy, but a selfish person whose interest was aligned with his needs and nothing more. If he cared about his friend, he would have stayed away after the first cut.
Colm
I get wanting to cut ties from people who don’t add any value to your life. We do it all the time when we feel we have outgrown their use, but making is so abrupt may be tough. Colm did what he did for himself and I don’tfault him. He got to write more music and spend his time doing what he loves, but he needs some mental re-evaluation because he isn’t fine. Why would anyone take to self-harm to prove a point? Why? If you hate him, ignore him till he learns or better still threaten to take his own fingers not yours. What was the end goal? He lost all his fingers and will never play music again. Jeez.
Dominic
Poor Dominic was smarter than Pad but was getting the worse of his father’s side. Being sexually and physically abused could not have been easy and his death was all too painful. His proposal to Siobhan is the sweetest part of the movie. Keoghan was just too good with that role.
Siobhan
By far the smartest person in the village if I say so myself. She is a representative free spirit. A woman who knows what she wants with her life, but is also dedicated to her brother despite his lack of intellectual reasoning. I enjoyed Kerry’s portrayal of the role and was cheering her on when she got a job of that miserable island.
I watched this movie out of curiosity and because I like Colin Farrell. I’m glad I did. It’s a masterpiece of a story which takes you through the life of the main in a short time, exposing their inner true intentions and vices. Will I recommend this, absolutely. But it’s not for everyone like I said.
