What if, one day, your best friend decided that they didn鈥檛 want to be friends anymore? Not because of something that happened like a fight or some offense. You didn鈥檛 say something stupid while drunk. It鈥檚 not anything that can be apologized for or mended. It鈥檚 much worse than that. It鈥檚 just you.
Ask anyone it鈥檚 happened to: Short of the death of a loved one, there are few things as devastating. Not even the end of a romantic relationship can quite compare. Those, we mostly understand, can come and go. But a friend who doesn鈥檛 want to be around you anymore? It may sound like playground troubles, but whether it happens when you鈥檙e 8 or 80, that鈥檚 a wound that never really heals.
Yet it鈥檚 also not a topic that鈥檚 been widely explored in great plays, films and literature. Maybe that鈥檚 part of the reason it鈥檚 such a blow when it actually happens: The art wasn鈥檛 there to warn us.
And who better to stare into this uncomfortable well than the great playwright Martin McDonagh? In 鈥� 鈥� he and a small group of wonderful actors have sculpted an aching reverie about friendship and fulfillment that is one of the very best films of the year.
It鈥檚 1923 on a small island off the west coast of Ireland when we meet Colin Farrell鈥檚 P谩draic, a happy and kindhearted fellow who is content with his life there living with his sister, the bookish Siobhan (a brilliantly sharp Kerry Condon), tending to his favorite donkey, Jenny, and meeting his best friend Colm (a quiet, soulful Brendan Gleeson) at the pub every day at 2 p.m. But on this day P谩draic鈥檚 routine is upended when he knocks at Colm鈥檚 window to go get their daily pint and Colm ignores him. As P谩draic will come to find, Colm has decided he just doesn鈥檛 like him anymore and would like to spend the rest of his days doing anything but talking to him. For P谩draic, this is just the start of an agonizing spiral of self-doubt that turns into a nightmare and leaves no one unchanged.
Colm鈥檚 decision, everyone agrees, is mean. Really, really mean. It鈥檚 something you just don鈥檛 do to a person, especially someone like P谩draic who values niceness above all else. But Colm has and isn鈥檛 budging.
People also seem to agree that P谩draic and Colm always made an odd pairing. P谩draic is affable and kind and maybe a little dull. Colm is a more tortured soul, a musician and artist and reader who feels his own enlightenment is being stifled by boring chats. Mean, but also true, at least to Colm who in millennial speak has chosen boundaries and self-care at the expense of another鈥檚 feelings.
鈥淭he Banshees of Inisherin鈥� presents an impossible conundrum and there鈥檚 no solution that will make everyone (or anyone) happy. It is a McDonagh joint after all, and Carter Burwell鈥檚 melancholy score and Ben Davis鈥檚 haunting cinematography add to the spiritual solemnness.
Farrell is as heartbreaking as he鈥檚 ever been as P谩draic, who we watch in horror as he slips into a crueler version of himself. A sweet and tragic local boy, Dominic (a perfect Barry Keoghan role), steps in and for a minute looks like a glimmer of hope for P谩draic. He's also possibly repeating the cycle of how P谩draic and Colm became friends in the first place 鈥� some combination of proximity and lack of options on a small island.
This is the nature of life on an insular island and it's a problem for more than Colm. It鈥檚 starting to gnaw at Siobhan as well.
The film may leave you shattered, but it鈥檒l also have you laughing, quoting lines in a bad a Irish accent and thinking about your own life and relationships. At the start, it seems clear that Colm is the unreasonable one, but as the story progresses, you begin to accept and maybe even admire his resolve. Somewhere along the way you may find yourself just praying for P谩draic to accept it too and let Colm live in quiet peace.
鈥淭he Banshees of Inisherin鈥� is a rich, soulful journey, full of agony, dry Irish wit and big, haunting questions. If it's answers you're looking for, however, you're not going to find them on Inisherin.
鈥淭he Banshees of Inisherin,鈥� a Searchlight Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 鈥渓anguage throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity.鈥� Running time: 109 minutes. Four stars out of four.
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MPA Definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
