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Martin McDonagh (Britain, 1970), a playwright who wrote
"The Beauty Queen of Leenane" (1996), "The Cripple of Inishmaan" (1996),
"A Skull in Connemara" (1997),
"The Lonesome West" (1997), "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" (2001),
"The Pillowman" (2003),
"A Behanding in Spokane" (2010), "Hangmen" (2015),
"A Very Very Very Dark Matter" (2018), etc.
He debuted as a filmmaker with
In Bruges (2008)
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (2017)
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), based on a play that he never completed.
is a moral fable but hard to tell what the message is.
The action takes place in the early 20th century in a rural ageless village of an island off the coast of Ireland.
Colm lives alone with a dog in a small house where he plays loud opera records even when he's not in the house.
Colm doesn't like Padraic anymore and Padraic is puzzled why.
The two friends used to always go to the same pub together.
Padraic lives with his unmarried sister Siobhan with a beloved donkey and other animals.
An old woman who looks like a ghoul visits Siobhan.
It's been eight years since the parents died.
The villagers can hear distant cannon fire because a civil war is raging in Ireland.
Colm performs as usual at his fiddle at the pub.
Padraic sits with the younger Dominic and watches jealous.
Padraic can't accept Colm's suddent hostility. His
sister mostly reads books.
The following day Padraic confronts Colm at the pub. Colm coldly tells him that
he is busy writing a new song and tells him to leave him alone.
Colm then sits down with Padraic and explains that he
feels time is flying away and his life has been meaningless, so he now wants to focus on composing songs.
Colm is tired of Padraic's dull chatting.
Padraic almost begs Colm to chat with him but this only irritates Colm more.
Padraic is a nice man.
Dominic gets beated by his father,
Peadar,
a ruthless cop, and Padraic offers him shelter for one night.
The whole village attends sunday mass.
Padraic talks to the priest about Colm, and so the priest asks
Colm during the confession, and they
get into a heated argument.
Colm then threatens Padraic at the pub not to bother him anymore
or he will start cutting his own fingers.
The whole pub hears it and begs Padraic to abide.
The whole village knows Padraic as the nice guy but he now suspects there's something wrong with being a nice guy.
Dominic asks Siobhan why she never married and she's
outraged by the question.
Dominic's father the cop
beats up Padraic for sheltering his son.
Colm watches and helps Padraic up and drives him home in his cart, but
silently, and then leaves him crying.
The cop is friend with Colm at the pub.
They chat casually about rebels being executed.
Later Padraic listens to Colm playing with a group of music students.
Padraic gets drunk and insults both Peader and Colm.
Colm tells him that music remains for centuries, like Mozart, whereas
nobody remembers niceness.
Padraic retorts that he is proud of being nice.
Colm actually thinks Padraic is interesting now.
Meanwhile, a letter arrives for Siobhan: a job offer from a library in the mainland.
The following morning Padraic apologies to Colm, but
Colm is exasperated that Padraic just can't leave him alone.
Colm cuts one of his fingers off and leaves it by Padraic's door,
then goes home to play his music.
Siobhan brings the finger back to Colm and Colm again asks for silence.
Siobhan mails a letter without telling Padraic anything about it.
Padraic sits alone at the pub watching Colm meet music student Declain,
and then lies to Declan that his father (Declan's) has been injured to make him go away, a mean thing to do.
The old man prophesizes to Padraic that one or two will die soon.
At night Siobhan cries.
Peadar promises to kill Padraic for protecting his son Dominic.
Dominic has a crush on Siobhan but he's too young and she rejects him.
Padraic suddenly visits Colm trying to be rude, following Dominic advice that a rude character might appeal to Colm.
Colm has finished his tune "The Banshees of Inisherin" and Padraic proposes to celebrate at the pub but Colm never shows up.
Instead Colm cuts four more fingers and dumps them in front of Padraic's house.
Meanwhile the sister announced that she's leaving town, having found a job, tired of the madness of the island,
and Padraic is now alone and even finds his beloved donkey dead because it suffocated trying to eat Colm's fingers.
Padraic walks to Colm's cabin to get his revenge on Colm's dog
but then can't find the guts to kill the sweet dog.
Padraic confronts Colm at the pub promising that on sunday at 2pm he will set his (Colm's) house on fire.
Colm is honestly sorry that the donkey died.
While they are talking, Peadar shows up angry because Dominic has been missing (he thinks Padrais is hiding him) and Colm beats Peadar unconscious.
They both attend mass,
Colm confesses to the priest that he accidentally killed a donkey.
Siobhan writes Padraic a letter how beautiful in the mainland
and invites him to join her.
Padraic sets fire to Colm's house but saves the sweet dog.
Colm is inside, smoking quietly.
Padraic leaves him to burn alive.
Padraic writes back to Siobhan that he won't be joining her
and that Dominic has died in the lake, probably suicide,
but
doesn't tell her of the fire as if life were going on normally.
Padraic is more alone than ever.
The old woman dressed in black visits the burned down house.
Padraic takes the dog for a walk and the dog runs wild to the beach: Colm is alive.
Instead of Padraic apologizing for the house, Colm apologizes for the donkey.
Colm even thanks Padraic for looking after the dog.
The old woman in black is watching the scene from a distance
(Copyright © 2022 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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