Wounded but funny, quiet but resonant and resistant to anything like a Hollywood formula, “The Banshees of Inisherin” is a strangely profound little comedy. It’s one of the few true originals among movies this year.
The film begins in 1923 in a forbiddingly remote place off a far corner of Europe: the Aran Islands near the west coast of Ireland. The guns of the Irish Civil War can be heard in the distance, creating puzzlement among the residents of Inisherin. “Good luck to ye, whatever it is you’re fighting about,” says Pádraic, a simple dairy man played by Colin Farrell in an infinitely sensitive portrayal of a hopeless dullard. A kind of micro-spoof of the war is about to upend his peaceful little life. Pádraic’s best friend, Colm (played with a balance of lightness and foreboding by the gifted character actor Brendan Gleeson), has decided to spurn him, irrevocably and without warning. “I just don’t like you no more,” Colm says, and demands that Pádraic never speak to him again.
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