The Banshees of Inisherin was an unusual movie, featuring gorgeous vistas, on-point acting and haunting music. However, it was ultimately unsatisfying because it never really rose above a persistent, downbeat nihilism.
I took the movie as a kind of allegory on human irrationality and miscommunication, seen vividly on the mainland during the Irish Civil War, and in microcosm in the relationship between Padraic and Colm.
It was also an extended study on the wages of untreated mental illness, as Colm chose to do nothing to treat his "despair" (that is, depression), and instead wreaked havoc upon himself and his erstwhile best mate.
My problem with Banshees is that the great movies that reflect the insanity of the human condition, at the end of the day, still have something redemptive about them. The great anti-war, movies-Bridge on the River Kwai, For Whom the Bell Tolls, MASH, Atonement-all deliver some form of redemption amid the pain. Banshees only leaves one feeling hopeless at the end. The very bleakness of the movie unfortunately drags it down.
I took the movie as a kind of allegory on human irrationality and miscommunication, seen vividly on the mainland during the Irish Civil War, and in microcosm in the relationship between Padraic and Colm.
It was also an extended study on the wages of untreated mental illness, as Colm chose to do nothing to treat his "despair" (that is, depression), and instead wreaked havoc upon himself and his erstwhile best mate.
My problem with Banshees is that the great movies that reflect the insanity of the human condition, at the end of the day, still have something redemptive about them. The great anti-war, movies-Bridge on the River Kwai, For Whom the Bell Tolls, MASH, Atonement-all deliver some form of redemption amid the pain. Banshees only leaves one feeling hopeless at the end. The very bleakness of the movie unfortunately drags it down.