The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022)

[Cremildo]

Martin McDonagh's upcoming film is about a friendship gone sour in Ireland.

Edit: it'll be an In Bruges reunion as Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farell are set to spearhead the cast.

Edit #2: The title is The Banshees Of Inisheer.

[therewillbeblus]

Martin McDonagh's upcoming film is about a friendship gone sour in Ireland.

He's a great talent and I hope this is a return to form after the borderline-abysmal Three Billboards.

[mfunk9786]

Seven Psychopaths was pretty terrible too. We're a long way from In Bruges

[swo17]

So what if the election was between Donald Trump and Martin McDonagh

[therewillbeblus]

Seven Psychopaths was pretty terrible too. We're a long way from In Bruges

I didn’t love it either but I admired the structure mirroring the strange departure into a no man’s land of “creativity” as a meta de-stabilizing journey, even if I thought the second half was ultimately a failure.

[pianocrash]

So what if the election was between Donald Trump and Martin McDonagh

18th ward alderman Jack Mulligan in a sympathy vote write-in landslide

[mfunk9786]

So what if the election was between Donald Trump and Martin McDonagh

In Bruges is a terrific little film and despite his much worse efforts, he's still capable of hitting one out of the park with zero surprise on my part if he does

[therewillbeblus]

He’s got great skills at a writer, I bet his plays are good- it’s when he projects that witty artificial intelligentsia into a real world like Three Billboards where the carpet doesn’t match the drapes and his faults become transparent

[thirtyframesasecond]

I've seen The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Hangmen on stage. Both pretty decent. You know the drill; dark humour, bursts of violence. In Bruges is still a cracking film.

[Mr. Deltoid]

Although it doesn't mention it in that press-release, The Banshees of Inisheer was the title of McDonagh's only unproduced play in his Aran Islands trilogy (the other two being, The Cripple of Inishmaan and the aforementioned Lieutenant of Inishmore), which he wrote back in the mid-90's. How close this comes to that originally script remains to be seen, but if it maintains the quality and flavour of those original plays, this should be something to really anticipate!

[therewillbeblus]

I've seen The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Hangmen on stage. Both pretty decent. You know the drill; dark humour, bursts of violence. In Bruges is still a cracking film.

I’ve always been most intrigued about A Behanding in Spokane because the idea of watching Christopher Walken spending a few hours looking for his hand seems impossible to be anything less than stellar

[Roscoe]

I've seen The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Hangmen on stage. Both pretty decent. You know the drill; dark humour, bursts of violence. In Bruges is still a cracking film.

I’ve always been most intrigued about A Behanding in Spokane because the idea of watching Christopher Walken spending a few hours looking for his hand seems impossible to be anything less than stellar

BEHANDING was only about 90 minutes long, and it managed to be less than stellar. Not his best, but far less interesting works get a lot more acclaim. I'm a big fan of McDonagh who is my favorite living playwright, and of LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE, which got one of the loudest audience responses I've ever encountered in a theater at a climactic moment

SpoilerShow

when Wee Thomas reappears at play's end.

It stopped the damn play both times I saw it. We'll see about this BANSHEES, which as noted above at least shares the title with a play that McDonagh had pretty well disowned. McDonagh reuniting Farrell and Gleeson guarantees I'll be seeing that one immediately upon release.

[therewillbeblus]

Farrell's strengths were exposed and amplified to their potential by McDonagh in In Bruges so I'm with you - I also didn't read that second article that mentioned their involvement, which makes me infinitely more excited for this.

I see his new play is coming to Broadway first, so maybe I'll actually try to catch it since I've been meaning to see one of them since, fuck, college?

[DarkImbecile]

Trailer

[Roscoe]

Trailer

Ah yes. Yes. That'll be me seein this at the first opportunity.

[Murdoch]

I'm not a big fan of In Bruges but I didn't dislike it. I'll see it for the scenery (I was on Inisheer in May and would love to relive that landscape, although this is shot on Inishmore I believe).

[Roscoe]

I'm not a big fan of In Bruges but I didn't dislike it. I'll see it for the scenery (I was on Inisheer in May and would love to relive that landscape, although this is shot on Inishmore I believe).

Inishmore being the setting of McDonagh's finest play, THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE. Wonder why McDonagh has resisted making films of his plays.

[Swift]

I'm not a big fan of In Bruges but I didn't dislike it. I'll see it for the scenery (I was on Inisheer in May and would love to relive that landscape, although this is shot on Inishmore I believe).

Yep, it was filmed on Inishmore, and Achill Island in County Mayo.

[mfunk9786]

Would like to slip into the forum and speak specifically to anyone who thought McDonagh's last two films were shallow masturbatory exercises (I certainly did...): This is the best film that I've seen since Inside Llewyn Davis nine years ago, and I can still hardly collect my thoughts about it in a coherent enough way to share here or elsewhere. When I can, I'll return. At any rate: You are doing yourself a disservice if you ignore this.

Also think that fans of screwball comedies, in particular, will enjoy this savagely and heartbreakingly sad picture. Yes, I realize that sentence is confusing.

[therewillbeblus]

Also think that fans of screwball comedies, in particular, will enjoy this savagely and heartbreakingly sad picture. Yes, I realize that sentence is confusing.

I feel like the same could be said of In Bruges or a lot of McDonagh's work as a playwright (of which this supposedly most resembles) so that makes sense

High praise, I hope you come back to share more of your thoughts!

[dekadetia]

Would like to slip into the forum and speak specifically to anyone who thought McDonagh's last two films were shallow masturbatory exercises (I certainly did...):

I went into this one with a similar opinion about his last two and was also pleasantly surprised. This is easily McDonagh's best film for me — simple, poetic, hilarious, sad, allegorical and elemental. For the first time in a long time he doesn't get in his own way and the results are a delight, with great perfs from all four leads.

[Roscoe]

Would like to slip into the forum and speak specifically to anyone who thought McDonagh's last two films were shallow masturbatory exercises...

You're certainly not speaking to me, but just to slip into the forum and comment -- Shallow and masturbatory is Quentin Tarantino. His entire oeuvre since RESERVOIR DOGS, especially that HOLLYWOOD thing. Not McDonagh. I'm not as taken with SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS as I was with the McDonagh play that I think inspired it, THE PILLOWMAN (which I think would make a splendid vehicle for Tim Burton with its dark fairytale excursions), but I dug THREE BILLBOARDS. It's picture of Wrath run amok, followed by his next play, the splendid HANGMEN with its picture of Pride run amok, had me wondering if McDonagh is working on some secret SEVEN DEADLY SINS project.

[mfunk9786]

Weird, I didn't mention Tarantino at all. Seems odd to bring him up.

[Roscoe]

Weird, I didn't mention Tarantino at all. Seems odd to bring him up.

But you did mention "shallow and masturbatory" which I'd say suits Tarantino to a T, as opposed to McDonagh, whose work doesn't strike me that way at all. I was countering your assertion of McDonagh's "shallow and masturbatory" last two films with mention of a filmmaker whose career output pretty completely embodies those terms for me. Mileage is gonna vary, clearly.

[mfunk9786]

Certainly was one way to discourage me from reading the rest of your post, at any rate.

Would like to slip into the forum and speak specifically to anyone who thought McDonagh's last two films were shallow masturbatory exercises (I certainly did...):

I went into this one with a similar opinion about his last two and was also pleasantly surprised. This is easily McDonagh's best film for me — simple, poetic, hilarious, sad, allegorical and elemental. For the first time in a long time he doesn't get in his own way and the results are a delight, with great perfs from all four leads.

"Elemental" is a great word to describe this film. Geography plays a significant role in shrinking the tale down to bare essentials, which both allows more extreme things to happen while still remaining plausible, and ratchets up the viewer's ability to see themselves in these characters' stories. They only live for us within the context of these events, but as the film alludes to, there is not a ton of complexity to their lives that we're on the outside of - these events are the tipping point in extremely simple lives. What we see is what they've got.