Is this the quintessential Irish film? Sentimentality and savagery living side by side, deep and dark, poetic and philosophical, tender yet rugged. For two-thirds of it you're chuckling almost like it's Father Ted, then suddenly it takes a dark turn and the last half hour is like a horror show. The civil war makes a good backdrop to a friendship on the rocks but it never directly impinges. A few forgiveable cliches, or maybe they're just tropes (e.g. A sibyl straight out of Macbeth). Fabulous to look at, tours de force from Gleeson and Farrell, as well as a meditation on the meaning of friendship and the purpose of our existence.
Review of The Banshees of Inisherin
