The Banshees of Inisherin Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Banshees of Inisherin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 21, 2022

Are you aware there are honest to goodness websites that track things like (depicted) harm to animals in films? If you weren't, you're not alone, as I was similarly "unschooled" until a social media friend of mine posted a link to just such a site while discussing The Banshees of Inisherin. While the site's actual URL refers to canines meeting their fate, somewhat hilariously (at least for those of us with blacker than black jaded senses of humor), it also purports to offer "crowd sourced emotional spoilers" that have been broken down into more than one hundred categories, and let's just cut to the chase and state that The Banshees of Inisherin "qualified" for reports in several of those categories, not necessarily limited to any harm to or in fact outright death of any animals. All of that may bring into question some descriptions of The Banshees of Inisherin as a "comedy", but the fact is despite an absolutely melancholic atmosphere suffusing this film at times virtually to the point of suffocation, it can be almost deliriously funny, at least with regard to the sometimes inexplicable behaviors of people in general, and men in particular. The underlying plot of this curious but curiously affecting story is simplicity itself: Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) is stunned one day when out of the blue his lifelong friend Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) announces that he no longer likes Pádraic and wants to be left alone. That might seem like "no big deal" in a manner of speaking, but the situation is complicated by the fact that Pádraic and Colm both reside on a fairly tiny (fictional) island off the coast of "mainland" Ireland and can't help but see each other virtually daily, and the fact that the two are so tightly interwoven into a somewhat isolated, insular community means that everyone knows everyone else's business.

Writer and director Martin McDonagh is on hand in an interesting "making of" featurette included on this disc as a supplement and discusses how he had long wanted to reunite the stars of his celebrated film In Bruges. McDonagh also gives some pretty brief lip service to the idea that at least some elements of The Banshees of Inisherin are supposedly "allegorical", in that the film is set during the Irish Civil War, and in fact the islanders of the film often get "long distance" sightings of some of the skirmishes on the "mainland". Are Pádraic and Colm therefore personified "symbols" of the opposing sides of that conflict? You might have a hard time making that case, other than the fact that the two pretty much confess that if they ever had anything to argue about (which seems doubtful for any number of reasons), they've long ago forgotten what it was, which may serve as a rather potent analog to the ridiculous behaviors of any number of groups or even nations when it comes to battling each other. The bottom line is that all of the villagers seem to be anti-political and more concerned with day to day living than with any perceived "nationalistic" issues.

If the ostensible "allegorical" subtext of The Banshees of Inisherin is therefore at least debatable if not outright questionable, the film also (and this is overtly mentioned by McDonagh in the bonus feature) leaves any number of questions unanswered, which may ultimately be a frustrating element to a story that seems to have forward momentum in several regards, but which almost loops back on itself like a veritable Mobius strip. In a number of ways, The Banshees of Inisherin reminded me of David Lean's bizarrely underappreciated Ryan's Daughter ( still unavailable on Blu-ray as of the writing of this review), a film which probably more overtly addressed the simmering conflicts in Ireland of the general time (a few years earlier than this particular film), but which, much like The Banshees of Inisherin, gives a rather devastating portrait of an isolated village community.

Suffice it to say that this completely peculiar and almost self-manufactured (by Colm) conflict soon escalates to arguably absurd heights (and/or depths, depending on your point of view), which ultimately ends up with fairly devastating consequences for both of the central characters. What, though, is McDonagh trying to "say" with some of this trauma? Colm's "reactions" (I'm attempting not to post any spoilers, emotional or otherwise) seem positively over the top and a brief allusion to "despair" during one of his trips to the Confessional booth hint at underlying emotional traumas that the film frankly might have done better to explore a bit more overtly, though Colm's horrifying behaviors as depicted are certainly viscerally disturbing enough that his emotional imbalance is obvious. Kind of interestingly, Brendan Gleeson is also on hand in the "making of" supplement mentioning how he loves the fact the McDonagh writes stories where there are no clear "heroes and villains", and that, as Gleeson states, "we're all heroes and villains". I'd argue that Colm certainly comes off as a more boorish character than the seemingly sweet Pádraic, who seems positively afflicted that his BFF has forsaken him. This is not to excuse some "bad behavior" on the part of Pádraic, however.

While the story here inarguably focuses on the two (former?) best friends, as McDonagh mentions in the "making of " featurette, he wanted all of the supporting characters to be the "stars of their own movie", and he has succeeded admirably in creating some unforgettable moments for many of them. Pádraic has a sister named Siobhán (Kerry Condon), who seems to be one of the more sensible people in the village, but who is herself something of a trapped soul. But arguably the most viscerally disturbing content here in terms of the supporting cast comes courtesy of Dominic Kearney (Barry Keoghan), who might be compared in passing to the character the inimitable John Mills portrayed so memorably (winning an Academy Award in the process) in Ryan's Daughter, though Dominic, while perhaps colloquially is "the village idiot", is not a mute.

The Banshees of Inisherin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Banshees of Inisherin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Studios and Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists Arri cameras and a 4K DI as the relevant data points. This is an absolutely stunning looking presentation from start to finish, with only some minimal quibbles some may have with regard to shadow detail and passing crush in a couple of very dark nighttime scenes. McDonagh talks about a rather nicely extended pre-production period he was "granted" courtesy of a certain pandemic, which allowed him to hobnob with cinematographer Ben Davis, whom McDonagh jokes "tolerated" McDonagh's perhaps overly complex storyboarding for the film, but the result is nothing less than glorious. The locations are often breathtaking, and both wide vistas and close-ups offer precise and wonderfully rendered detail levels. The palette is similarly gorgeous, if often burnished to sometimes (and sorry to mix national metaphors here) almost Bruegel-esque levels in some of the interior locations.

The Banshees of Inisherin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Banshees of Inisherin features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. One of the film's many plot strands revolves around Colm attempting to compose an epic "reel", and both the village musicians in the local pub as well as Carter Burwell's entrancing underscore can provide clear engagement of the side and rear channels. Surround activity is also fulsome in the many outdoor scenes where everything from the lap of tides to the cawing of seabirds can dot the surround channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout.

The Banshees of Inisherin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Creating The Banshees of Inisherin (HD; 17:49) is an above average piece with some good interviews. This does have quite a few spoilers.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 4:49)

Additionally, a digital copy is included.

The Banshees of Inisherin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My hunch is you may be seeing at least some of the performers in The Banshees of Inisherin competing for next year's Academy Awards, and I'd be downright shocked if Ben Davis isn't nominated for his stunning cinematography. I'm not sure the film actually benefits from leaving so many questions unanswered, as McDonagh states was his intention, but the film has a devastating emotional impact one way or the other. Technical merits are first rate. Recommended.