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Anyone seen "The Banshees of Inisherin"?

104 replies

scoobydoo1971 · 27/10/2022 23:45

With a few hours to spare, I looked up films in the local cinema. This was the recommended film, with promising reviews on Google from film critics. I sat down hoping for a thought-provoking visual feast. Two hours later I left that cinema in clouds of despair, and depressed by all aspects of it. I just thought it was awful, in so many ways. Some people walked out before it ended. I don't want to get into spoilers, but has anyone seen this? I just don't understand the rave reviews and feel like I missed something.

OP posts:
Deadringer · 28/10/2022 10:00

I want to see this one. Great to see Colin Farrell get the recognition he deserves, I think he is a very underrated actor. He does a lot of quirky roles which probably hasn't helped.

glasshouse · 28/10/2022 10:02

I saw it on Thursday night and have been thinking about it ever since. It's not a cheery film to say the least but has much to say about small isolated communities and desperation, lack of fulfillment and entertainment (the shopkeeper looking for 'news'). I thought all the actors were brilliant and gave really nuanced performances. The scenery was spectacular.

XanaduKira · 28/10/2022 10:31

Thanks for that too @RaininginDarling - I knew I wasn't clever enough when I watched it to get it but your thoughts as well as the Civil War metaphor make it make a lot more sense and I can come to see it as absolutely brilliant!

thereisonlyoneofme · 28/10/2022 10:40

Saw a long traioler for it at the cinema last night, straight away thought, I wont be going to see that.

Went to Ticket to Paradise with Julia Roberts and George Clooney, dont recommend, was bored rigid !

RaininginDarling · 28/10/2022 16:35

XanaduKira · 28/10/2022 10:31

Thanks for that too @RaininginDarling - I knew I wasn't clever enough when I watched it to get it but your thoughts as well as the Civil War metaphor make it make a lot more sense and I can come to see it as absolutely brilliant!

Don't put yourself down. We all have emotional responses to things and some of us are better than others at creating a word salad around that shared experience!

Plus McDonagh might totally disagree with my interpretation but that's the joy of art 💐

BoffinMum · 28/10/2022 16:39

It was like Father Ted without the jokes and with fewer fingers. I’m sure it will win loads of Oscars but I thought it was terrible, and was traumatised by having to sit through the thing. Astonishingly my DH loved the acting and my DSs (13, 21) loved being able to snigger away and make crass finger related jokes.

XanaduKira · 28/10/2022 16:44

Thanks @RaininginDarling 

I saw Ticket to Paradise last week and really enjoyed it @thereisonlyoneofme Blush. Made me want to go to Bali as I've never been!

averythinline · 28/10/2022 16:45

Saw it last night ...glad my teen didn't come...its very sad and bleak..beautifully put together....there's some dark humour but definitely wouldn't call it a comedy... I like his style but preferred 3 billboards.....it's definitely an adult film and a drama... the footage/usage of animals and birds throughout is another comic/visual strand but not as rewatchable as in bruges or 3 billboards..
4 of us went and had all picked up slightly different things....

Seveninfour · 28/10/2022 16:46

He has said it is a metaphor for the Civil War @RaininginDarling but also all the things you said too. There’s a great interview with him on last week’s Kermode & Mayo podcast.

I saw it on Tuesday morning & loved it, but I can’t really say why! The performances mostly I think but I did also think it was very funny in places. I think as a metaphor for the civil war it is a bit heavy-handed (sorry!). It’s a bit more mysterious if you just take it at face value, but I preferred that.

Both me & DP left in a weird mood - I was a bit quiet & melancholy & he felt the need to be exceptionally loud and annoying for the next hour :-)

Madagascary · 28/10/2022 16:53

ww cheered in that awful ticket to paradise thing when we thought that boat might disappear off

Tinytigertail · 28/10/2022 16:57

I loved it. Well acted, beautifully shot, darkly amusing and poignant.

elizabethdraper · 28/10/2022 17:07

Seen it last night

Outstanding, we spent hours talking about it

Barry Keoghan was amazing. As we're Colin and Brendan

I am still thinking about it today

Not sure I could watch it again tonight, as I was emotionally drained but it was an amazing film and deserves all the praise

RaininginDarling · 29/10/2022 10:35

@Seveninfour that's interesting to know! Agree that would be a little heavy handed as a metaphor. We also left the cinema in a similar mood.

Absolutely loved it - don't think I could sit through it again though.

mikado1 · 04/11/2022 11:47

I thought it was excellent and just sat watching the credits at the end. Didn't expect the laughs 'How was fingers your first port of call?' 😂
Heartbreaking in parts, especially poor Dominic, destroyed by his father. Glad Siobhán went. One thing I wondered at the end was who would the second person be or was it the donkey? (As predicted by Mrs McCormack)

mikado1 · 04/11/2022 11:48

At the start I thought there were nearly too many big names and it was a bit Kilanaskully but loved it then. The scenery was amazing.

viques · 04/11/2022 11:59

I saw it this week and loved it. Great script with some very smart one liners, terrific cast, I though Barry Keoghan who played young Dominic was heartbreakingly good as a vunerable young man, slow of wit, desperate to have his own life but trapped by his own inadequacies in a community that is aware of his situation but does nothing to help him, dreadful echoes of many abuses in small narrow communities. The scenery is stunning.

Cw112 · 04/11/2022 12:03

Me and dh loved it. I thought parts were really funny in the most deadpan way, I laughed out loud a few times and yes had a tear over tye wee donkey. I thought the premise was really clever and I loved that there was no definitive answer by the end. I thought it was brilliant personally. I think Farnell and Keoghan just work really well together. It's one I went home thinking about.

viques · 04/11/2022 12:05

I really wanted to know the history behind Gleesons character, his seemed to be a story that didnt fit in with the rest of the community, his interests, his physical isolation, the objects we glimpsed in his cottage, and of course his drastic actions.

VashtaNarada · 04/11/2022 12:55

Also loved it. For me it was a film about loneliness. Colin Farrell was spectacular. It definitely played hard on the Irish stereotypes, which was the one irritation for me.

Foolsandtheirmoney · 04/11/2022 13:04

I saw it last night. I grew up in one of the places it was filmed so that drew me in. I quite liked it. It was bleak for sure but I thought the acting was great and could definitely see bits of the characters in the people that I grew up around. Dominic reminded me so much a lad that lived down the road from me. Overall I enjoyed it but it definitely didn't have a feel good factor.

XanaduKira · 04/11/2022 19:24

Where was it filmed @Foolsandtheirmoney ? I'm from the north and sadly didn't recognise any of it!

mikado1 · 04/11/2022 19:29

Achill I think, but the accents were more Cork/Kerry. Kerry Condon and her voice were so familiar to me but when I looked up her films, they weren't how I knew her...

Foolsandtheirmoney · 04/11/2022 20:01

It was filmed on Inis Mór and Achill. Colms house was in Keem bay which is probably the most recognisable spot on Achill, its regularly voted as one of the best beaches in the world I think.

Foolsandtheirmoney · 04/11/2022 20:05

mikado1 · 04/11/2022 19:29

Achill I think, but the accents were more Cork/Kerry. Kerry Condon and her voice were so familiar to me but when I looked up her films, they weren't how I knew her...

I remarked on the accents too. They were no way like the West of Ireland accents of yore but if they were I think they would be unintelligible to most 😂 I remember being like this Confused as a kid when older folk would talk to me, I had no idea what was going on!

mikado1 · 04/11/2022 20:14

Oh for sure but a definite Cork twang to most, like ;)
Pádraic was v emotive, Colin Farrell was excellent. Really disliked the Colm character.

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