While there is no clear front-runner for this year’s Best Picture race at the Academy Awards, a handful of films are starting to surface as possible candidates. With awards ceremony quickly approaching, The Banshees of Inisherin has been one title circulating in casual conversations about the Oscar’s highest honor. Despite the Irish Film Classification Office reporting complaints about the movie, Inisherin has consistently received positive reviews from every major trade journal. Indiewire’s David Ehrlich praises the film as a “stirring tragicomedy in which one man’s sympathetic but uncompromising lust for freedom sparks an escalating series of reprisals that can only end in a stalemate or self-immolation.”
As awards season continues to heat up, Inisherin has already proven to be a big winner. McDonagh received Best Screenplay awards at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs while also winning Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy at the Golden Globes. With Colin Farrell (Golden Globes, Best Actor), Barry Keoghan (BAFTAs, Best Supporting Actor), and Kerry Condon (BAFTAs, Best Supporting Actress) all boasting accolades for their acting performances, it might be safe to predict at least one golden statue for this tense Irish tragicomedy.
There are many who would argue the film deserves Best Picture for its entertaining ensemble of characters and its slow-paced, dialogue-heavy screenwriting fit for the stage. However, as a near polar opposite to fellow front-runner Everything Everywhere All At Once, the fictional island of Inisherin is slowly positioning itself as one of the homes to one of the year's best dramas.
Acting Accolades
This is not the first time a Martin McDonagh film received multiple actor award nominations. His previous picture, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), was bestowed with three nominations for Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell, with McDormand and Rockwell winning for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. The Banshees of Inisherin continues this tradition with four acting award nominations of its own. Along with Farrell (Best Actor), Keoghan (Best Supporting Actor), and Condon (Best Supporting Actress), acting legend Brendan Gleeson joins the talented group with a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Inisherin thrives off the strong collection of actors inhabiting its land, and McDonagh should be credited for crafting such a seamless cast. The trio of McDonagh, Farrell, and Gleeson famously return as collaborators after their 2008 movie In Bruges, and their chemistry certainly hasn’t missed a beat. Farrell has also shared the screen with Barry Keoghan twice before, with the pair of actors starring in Yorgos Lanthimios’ 2017 feature film, The Killing of the Sacred Deer. In addition, Kerry Condon has also shared the screen with Farrell once before and is a frequent collaborator of McDonagh as the two have worked on stage and on screen together. This pre-established connection between actors and director helped facilitate the creation of these characters and their complicated relationships.
Original Screenwriting
Though this is McDonagh’s first nomination for Best Picture and second for Best Director, his true specialties are signified by his three Best Original Screenplay nods. McDonagh’s combination of mythology and history in The Banshees of Inisherin creates a multifaceted story complete with friend drama and social commentary.
McDonagh’s repeated references to the mythological banshee influences its gloomy imagery, tragic tone, and mysterious characters. Though understated and lackluster, the cinematography captures the drab monotony of life on Inisherin. It traps the characters in the bleak grayness and simple happenings. The odes to Greek tragedy with the oracle and tragic death allude to a notion of fate and the inevitable. As Mrs. McCormick prophesied, death follows Inisherin in many forms. Though the donkey Jenny and Dominic Kearny (Keoghan) literally pass away, Padric’s (Farrell) relationship with his sister Siobhan (Condon) and his longtime friend Colm (Gleeson) perish along with them.
Colm himself represents somewhat of a folklore as well. The threat of chopping his fingers off is veiled as a twisted riddle or gruesome fairytale story. His dedication to music recalls mythological creatures such as Pan, sirens, and fairies. The sharp droning of the fiddle even represents the voice of a banshee, its tune welcoming death with melody and rhythm. Colm said he wanted to play the song at Padric’s funeral. Instead, Padric suffers from having every meaningful connection in his life ripped away from him altogether.
This brotherly battle between Padric and Colm is also represented by the civil war echoing in the background of the entire movie. Though a film like The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) achieves a more direct and poignant portrayal of this metaphor, including the civil war in Inisherin’s storyline presents the opportunity to decode the characters as representations of Ireland’s conflicted history.
Overall, McDonagh delivered a near-perfect film with a fantastic ensemble cast bolstered by his theatrical writing style. Though the Best Picture race is still up in the air, The Banshees of Inisherin have a strong case for the prestigious award.