Martin McDonagh, writer, director and creator of small, crazed worlds of fierce people taking their pain out on each other, is talking about his new film, The Banshees of Inisherin. “It’s a really beautiful film, with brilliant performances,” he says. “And it’s funny… but it’s sad. No one really tries to make sad films any more.”
It is sad, The Banshees of Inisherin, but, as he says, it’s also very funny; plus grotesque, violent, tender, surprising, a bit spooky and visually stunning. Many of these elements are established components of a McDonagh creation, whether his early plays, such as The Cripple of Inishmaan (1997), or his 2017 gothic revenge western Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which won Oscars for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell. The Banshees of Inisherin, though, is a shift in mood. Less speedy, more painful and mythical. Like a terrible fable.
