Review: 'The Banshees of Inisherin' is equal parts sardonic and shocking, with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson at their best

Writer-director Martin McDonagh’s fourth feature film, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” shares aspects of his first three — notably the sharp humor and intense tragedy that made such a volatile mix in his 2017 drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

It also reunites the stars of his first feature, “In Bruges” — Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson — to add more fuel to the fire.

Farrell plays Pádraic Súilleabhain, who lives in Inisherin, a small island village off the coast of Ireland in 1923, with his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and a small assortment of farm animals — including a donkey, Jenny, who wanders into the house, to Siobhan’s consternation. When not tending his animals, Pádraic goes down to the pub nearly every day with his best friend, Colm Doherty (that’s Gleeson), because what else is there to do?

When the movie starts, though, Pádraic arrives at Colm’s house along the shore, and Colm’s not there. Pádraic goes ahead to the pub, and soon Colm arrives as well. But Colm has something to tell Pádraic: He doesn’t want them to be friends any more.

Colm doesn’t give a reason, and Pádraic scrambles to figure out what he might have done to set Colm off like that. Even when a reason is given, Pádraic can’t accept it and asks for another chance. Colm says no, and tells his now-former friend that Pádraic persists in trying to engage with him, Colm will do something drastic. The Irish civil war is raging over on the mainland, but a personal version of it seems to be starting in Inisherin.

Pádraic continues to try to work out what went wrong between him and Colm, talking about it with Siobhan and with Dominic Kearney (Barry Keoghan), who’s identified as a “gom,” which is Irish for a village idiot. Dominic is sweet on Siobhan — maybe because it’s a small island, and Siobhan is the only woman within shouting distance of Dominic’s age — and it’s everything Siobhan can do to get rid of him.

McDonagh lets the scenario he created become a vehicle for a scathingly wry examination of small-town life, the claustrophobia of a place where the ancient Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton) makes dire predictions about residents’ lives, the storekeeper Mrs O’Riordan reads everyone’s mail in search of gossip, and the town cop (Gary Lydon) — who’s also Dominic’s abusive father — gloats that he gets to go to the mainland to help with the executions.

As the story progresses, or devolves into more harsh realities, it turns out it’s about love — and what happens when a longtime love fades, hardens or becomes more of a burden than a pleasure. Farrell and Gleeson portray many facets of that affection and irritation, and the directions they take the relationship is heart-wrenching. Condon also turns in a beautiful performance, playing the one exasperated sane voice in the village.

And, like McDonagh’s past films (“Billboards,” “Seven Psychopaths” and “In Bruges”), there’s a strong chance people won’t agree with me about it. It’s a demanding watch, because people who learn to like early in the movie start doing some pretty nasty stuff, to others and to themselves, as the story goes on. But it’s a rewarding one, especially as a viewer follows the emotional highs and lows McDonagh creates here.

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‘The Banshees of Inisherin’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, November 4, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity. Running time: 109 minutes.