The Banshees Of Inisherin

pixelburp · 14-03-2023 9:55am

I think people are focused too much on the literalism of the fingers. Maybe had the movie had a more pronounced surreal, heightened visual or tonal palette people would have accepted it quicker as something blatantly absurd or grotesque? The cinematography was quite naturalistic, the tone played fairly grim and contemporary - occasional anachronistic dialogue notwithstanding - and that definitely made the chopping of the fingers a little jarring.

At its core, as I see it: Colm was a man beset by fear of death, fear of leaving nothing, and clearly in a spiral of depression so pronounced and extreme he chose an extreme response. But played within that otherwise mundane, realistic setting it came across overly absurd.

Citizen Six · 14-03-2023 10:21am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354519#Comment_120354519

You must really not enjoy any of the Fast and the Furious movies so.

Citizen Six · 14-03-2023 10:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355612#Comment_120355612

You may enjoy this short clip, of unemployed men in the pub, from 7am or thereabouts.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2020/1001/1168735-early-opening-pubs/

Beechwoodspark · 14-03-2023 10:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355612#Comment_120355612

Spot on. Mcdonagh has been getting away with this absolute tripe for years.

this one in particular has a very sloppy script and plot

tobefrank321 · 14-03-2023 10:39am

So the Americans are stereotyping the Irish as fighting drunks once again.

tobefrank321 · 14-03-2023 10:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120356483#Comment_120356483

So that clip is a bone fides representation of Ireland then?

Out of interest, what time did you enter the pub yesterday?

Did you smash it · 14-03-2023 11:57am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120356395#Comment_120356395

It’s a fair interpretation

personally the premise of the story just wasn’t for me, it’s a finely made movie but it just didn’t “hit” me as it was an absurd premise IMO and the comedic parts weren’t really funny to me.

Fysh · 14-03-2023 12:25pm

Man, the state of this thread in the last two days is best summed up as either that Abe Simpson revolving at the door gif, or the Donald Glover darkest timeline pizza gif.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't find talk about the anachronisms interesting, purely because I know nothing much about what island life at the time would have been like (but I do also know that taking non-documentary film or television on the subject literally is misguided). But - perhaps because I don't have an expectation of it being a deeply-researched and pointedly accurate depiction of life at the time - that didn't get in the way of enjoying the film. I think @pixelburp is bang on upthread in saying that the naturalistic presentation style and tone plays against the inherent absurdity of the core plot mechanics and the dark humour and pathos that unspools from there.

I continue to be a bit surprised at the number of people who seem to be profoundly upset not so much that they didn't enjoy the film, so much as at the idea that anyone else did. Ironically feels like a sentiment that would fit perfectly into the version of island life depicted in the film 😅

flasher0030 · 14-03-2023 12:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355020#Comment_120355020

That would be brilliant. With dark Bodhran music (and a bit of fiddle and tin whistle) building up to a creshendo as the scenes come to a conclusion. I found the film very interesting, but I feel it did kinda fizzle out weakly. I was expecting something else to happen on the beach before it closed out.

I presume you were half messing with your alternative ending, but it would have been more memorable. I thought the film Aftersun was quite draggy for a lot of it. Not a lot happening except bits of dialogue. But then the few minutes at the end with the dancing over the Queen/David Bowie song just nailed the film, and that has stayed with me since. And, notwithstanding that I did not get a whole lot from the majority of the movie (Aftersun), I still think it was an amazing film because of that scene. Banshees could have been the same if they had something along what you proposed.

Flaneur OBrien · 14-03-2023 2:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120356555#Comment_120356555

Careful now, it's Cheltenham week 😂

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 14-03-2023 2:33pm

I find it interesting that people think the sister dying would have been a better third act than her leaving and the donkey dying.

Pauric had already lost his friend, and his sister, indirectly because of Colm, and it was made clear how much he loved Jenny, and she was all he had left at that point. It was a final blow that pushed him over the edge. It wasn't just because the donkey ate a finger that he went and set Colm's house on fire.

Pauric's arc throughout is one of the few things that felt crystal clear in how it was written and how it played out.

nix · 14-03-2023 5:13pm

I would encourage any who had trouble understanding what the movie was saying under neath to watch the video below, it might help people understand what the director was trying to do, i do think the finger chopping was OTT and the wrong way to go, he could have done something different to that im sure to get the same point across. But ah well..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74KPJ--cb7Q

Hungry Burger · 14-03-2023 5:23pm

I enjoyed the film in the cinema, wouldn’t say it’s my favourite ever or anything. The family watched it at Christmas on the telly and absolutely hated it, said that nothing really happened in the whole film and were perplexed by the finger chopping. I think it really lends itself to the big screen, the scenery shots for example weren’t anywhere near as good as in the cinema. I can kind of see where they were coming from on it and when I explained the civil war allegory they kind of just shrugged and said “yeah but that’s still not a good reason to watch two hours of nothing and an auld fella mutilating himself”

blue note · 14-03-2023 5:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355020#Comment_120355020

That's a bit of a Hollywood ending by comparison. It would give a lot less ambiguity towards Padraig, everyone would accept his actions (in a film by the way, not if someone did this down the road!) if he was avenging his sister. Whereas what we were shown was perhaps that it wasn't necessarily his nature just to be nice, but it just worked for him. When it stopped working for him he resorted to something much darker. If his actions had been justifiable in a way, he'd have been more of a straightforward hero. The way it was, we were left with conflicting feelings towards him.

Similarly Dominic killing the father would have been a satisfying comeuppance for the father and the suicide would have pulled at the heartstrings. It not being dealt with is a far more powerful statement. An institution (the gardaí) abusing a boy and the town turning a blind eye to it, even after it being exposed... that sounds familiar. And the boy committing suicide, partly I'm sure because of the shame of it and the town calling it an accident.... yep, that sounds familiar.

The film touches on a lot of very real issues. In some ways it's subtle and in some it exaggerates them for effect. Not everything in the film needs to be taken literally and to be honest, to enjoy film in general I think that's a rule to go by.

Hungry Burger · 14-03-2023 5:47pm

I agree that the sister dying somehow by the actions of the Brendan Gleason character would have been a way better ending but I don’t know how they could of done it without it being ridiculous.

saabsaab · 14-03-2023 7:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358422#Comment_120358422

She arrives at home, opens the gate seeing, then reaching down and picking up a strange object, realizes in horror what it is, she screams and stumbles backwards hitting her head on a stone.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 14-03-2023 8:18pm

There's only one feckin woman in the whole feckin thing and you're wanting to feckin kill her off like. Feck sake

ejmaztec · 14-03-2023 8:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358996#Comment_120358996

She would have deserved it after shooting Ray Donovan. 😛

saabsaab · 14-03-2023 9:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358996#Comment_120358996

No room for women on the island!

Man Vs ManUre · 14-03-2023 9:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358996#Comment_120358996

The banshee is a very fine mature worldly woman with a great brain!!

Citizen Six · 14-03-2023 11:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120356555#Comment_120356555

It's a representation of Ireland in the past. What age are you, that you can't understand that alcohol, and the pub, played a different role in society than it does today?

sporina · 15-03-2023 12:18am

lovve it... so thought provoking.. must rewatch it (for the 4th time) to have a good look at the props.. a mate was telling me about the masks in Colin's house.. missed them on previous viewings..

Fysh · 15-03-2023 5:10pm

Good news, everyone - there's a videogame adaptation! 😁

megaten · 16-03-2023 5:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358422#Comment_120358422

Wouldn't have worked, the whole thing with the sister is to underline the futility and stupidity of the feud. That it is possible to just up and leave.

Fysh · 16-03-2023 5:52pm

I must admit, the idea of Siobhan dying as somehow being an improvement to the film's third act seems bonkers to me. It's not so much that it's a trope, as that it's a particularly lazy simplification of the actual situation. Ditto the thing with the garda and Dominic - having that turn into a violent "and then he killed his da" story is a lazy fantasy version, and while it might be an easy way to let the audience not have to think about why a community might tolerate institutional abuse, I don't think that's what the film is interested in.

Her leaving is a loss to both Pairic and Colm, with the latter having only realised when confronted by Pairic in the pub that actually, Siobhan is probably the closest thing he had on the island to a kindred spirit (i.e. that if he'd bothered looking beyond the end of his own nose before then he might have had more fulfilling friendships). And as megaten says, the entire point is that her solution to the frustration of island life is the only one with a decent chance of working.

Furze99 · 16-03-2023 5:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120356821#Comment_120356821

It was worth watching to see what the hype was about.. but really it's a heap of sh*te served up as a story for the Yanks.

saabsaab · 19-03-2023 2:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120359879#Comment_120359879

Still does at least around here.

JP Liz V1 · 25-03-2023 5:59pm

Do we know if Dominic killed himself or fell in drunk to the lake?

Fysh · 26-03-2023 11:07am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120400094#Comment_120400094

IIRC it's not made explicit in the film but given the conversation he has with Siobhan by the lake before she leaves, I read it as him killing himself because he couldn't see any hope in his future.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 26-03-2023 3:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120401947#Comment_120401947

Pauric revealing he wasn't as nice as Dominic had thought he was contributed too, I think. It was like all the "good" things he was clinging to were taken away, similar to what happened to Pauric in a way. But Pauric was too busy worrying about his own relationship that he didn't realise he was an important person to Dominic.

The Banshees Of Inisherin

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