The Banshees Of Inisherin

Drumpot · 11-01-2023 11:27pm

For people asking why would he cut his own fingers off, I get it’s an odd thing to do.

But people hang themselves , jump off bridges , slash their wrists and do all sorts of self mutilations.. Indeed, the despair an suicidal incidents were prevelant in the island.

So from that POV the finger thing isn’t really that odd.

Akrasia · 11-01-2023 11:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093535#Comment_120093535

Ok, art is subjective. But If I see a perfectly crafted sculpture of a Man on a Horse, and I call it a terrible sculpture because I don't like the man (or the horse) then it's not the art that is bad, it's the personal reaction to that art that drives an emotional position

Imagine 2 identical twins, one was a FF Taoiseach, the other also became a FG Taoiseach

There is a statue of 'An irish Taoiseach' and it could have been either of the FF or FG taoiseach in that sculpture

The words on the Plaque underneath the statue would massively affect how people judged that art, even though the quality of the art itself is exactly the same.

Akrasia · 11-01-2023 11:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120094074#Comment_120094074

Interestingly, I watched the Wonder and was left cold by it, and really enjoyed the Banshees of Inisherin

Both are good movies, well made, well acted, well directed etc.

I would give The Wonder a recommendation as a film worth watching but not a must see.

I wouldn't give the Banshees of Inisherin a 'must see' either. I would highly recommend it to some people based on what kinds of film they like, but it's not for everyone.

Akrasia · 11-01-2023 11:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093914#Comment_120093914

It was set in the 1920s. not 1800s People knew what depression was back then

squidgainz · 11-01-2023 11:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093042#Comment_120093042

I thought it was shite cause I thought the storyline was shite and uninteresting. But I agree with you it was well made , shot , acted and directed and that's why ,despite me thinking it was shite , I can see why it got awards nods , a lot of awards movies can be a crap time. I found i had a fairly boring shite time watching it , I'd never bother again. Real steel is great.

Larbre34 · 11-01-2023 11:45pm

Its to reflect the intractable spitefulness of the Irish male.

Maybe all men.

And then it also connects to that other thing at the end of the film, which I won't spoil.

Well done to the award winners for Banshees. I thought Barry Keoghan deserved to win also, but thems the breaks.

McDonagh winning for the screenplay is a very gratifying achievement and a good telegraph for the Oscars.

This attitude of 'faith and begorrah, sure isn't it great for the furriners to recognise our little filim', is complete bullsh1t and fails to understand the way the industry works, the benefits of that industry to Ireland and the massively competitive nature of the industry globally across the increasingly blurred lines of TV and film.

By the end of this decade, the island of Ireland will be home to no less than 6 major film studio sites. 6!!

Thats because we have backed ourselves and built a quality product that is acknowledged around the World. And these awards matter to that, so begrudgers, go boil your head.

Wombatman · 12-01-2023 10:32am

A feckin pointless pretentious misery fest of feckin artsy-fartsy paddywhackery with feckin clunky dialogue. Mash up all the hallmark social problem of rural rural Ireland, in a Father Ted meets Synge style, from loneliness to child abuse, undereducation to alcoholism. Then point at it and go ara musha the poor craythurs but aren't they cute and funny at times. Makes The Field look like Laurence of Arabia. The main reason people feel uneasy about it is they know they are supposed to like it and will have to find a way to justify it.

silverharp · 12-01-2023 10:41am

my god she is great for 90. Can someone explain the Sonny before the surname, is it just a name or a version of son of?

https://twitter.com/RTERadio1/status/1613264489498943503

Potatoeman · 12-01-2023 10:53am

I enjoyed it for what it was. I went in blind so didn’t have any preconceptions. It’s clearly not for everyone though.

sydthebeat · 12-01-2023 11:25am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120097472#Comment_120097472

In some areas "sonny" would be used to indicate "eldest son of" so Colm sonny Larry is Colm, eldest son of Larry.

The female equivalent was "sissy"

silverharp · 12-01-2023 11:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120097644#Comment_120097644

thanks, not come across that before

Tony EH · 12-01-2023 12:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096632#Comment_120096632

Did we?

I don't think we had a really good grasp on what constituted depression until well into 80's. Certainly there wasn't the general understanding of it amongst the average population, that's for sure. Mary had a breakdown and went mad would have been the general jist of someone's depression for much of the 20th Century.

theteal · 12-01-2023 12:14pm

I liked it, probably wouldn't go much higher on the enjoyment scale than that. Maybe a couple of the jokes were ham fisted/out of place.

Was the fact that nobody made any fuss about the Gard diddling his young fella just a sign of old small town Ireland and people being afraid of the law. . . .until he gets a poc in the gob. I can't really get my head around that one. . .

I may be very wrong but the young lads name irked me a bit, would there have been many Dominics back then in a place like that? I'd expect more Seán Ógs, Mícheáls and the like. Then again, they have to have names a global audience can keep track of I suppose

pixelburp · 12-01-2023 12:18pm

I was warmer on the film than others, but one thing that definitely stuck in my craw was its use of anachronistic language - which would IMO have included "depression". The use of "nice guy(s)" was another 'cos I'm fairly confident that wasn't in common parlance back then either.

In the 1920s the medical world was barely grasping the idea of "shell-shock", let alone the broader complexities and depth of suffering that can occur within someone's mental health. IIRC people were still given electroshock therapy for various maladies, while I don't think a serious attempt to catalogue mental illness happened 'til the 1950s. So whatever understanding existed in that sphere at the time, it's unlikely to have filtered all the way down to what was - in effect - one of the more deprived & isolated parts of Europe.

Even today it's still a taboo and still a strong stigma attached to men who might openly admit they're struggling, emotionally; ain't no way a sturdy man in 1920s rural Ireland would confess that to a priest, or indeed that the priest would be even vaguely understanding. "Man up" would have been the response.

Tony EH · 12-01-2023 12:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120097858#Comment_120097858

No, I don't think "guy" would have been used outside of America. Of course there's the name "Guy", but that's a different matter. "Depression" probably wouldn't have been used in the context of mental health, as a generality anyway. Definitely not outside of medical circles, if at all.

And yes, the 1920's was a very different place with regards to mental health understanding. The First World War was instrumental in showing the devastating effects of PTSD and places like Craiglockhart made great progress with soldiers in that regard (mind you Siegfried Sassoon was shipped off to the "funny farm" simply because he wrote an anti-war letter. It wouldn't be until the 1960's that the mental health had advanced far enough to allow us understand just how fragile a person's mind can be and the numerous forms depression can take. I'd argue that we're still very much on that journey.

GAAcailin · 12-01-2023 12:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096641#Comment_120096641

Ditto

thought the storyline was daft. Acting and scenery were amazing. Not getting all the fuss mind..

notAMember · 12-01-2023 3:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096269#Comment_120096269

Streaming on netflix.

notAMember · 12-01-2023 4:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120097836#Comment_120097836

Yes, Dominic was a fairly common name back then actually. I've a couple of them in my own family tree. Religious / saints names were used fairly often and then shortened or an entirely different name used. You could have three brothers with first name Patrick in a family for example, but being known as Paddy, Sean and Tom.

Potatoeman · 12-01-2023 4:07pm

I wouldn’t expect it to be historically accurate given the storyline. Even the backdrop of the civil war is just to give an idea of the time it’s set in.

The students travelling to the island to play with Colm isn’t really explained either. If he hasn’t achieved anything why would they be travelling to play with him? It’s just a way to have Colm with other people and doing different things Padraic isn’t involved in.

Count Dracula · 12-01-2023 7:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120093463#Comment_120093463

I nearly got very semitic there.

It's amazing how quickly people forget.

One for the money, two for the show .....

osarusan · 13-01-2023 6:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096599#Comment_120096599

I am not sure about the validity of your analogy, because while one can look at a sculpture of a man on a horse and recognise that it is is an almost perfect anatomical replication of a real man on a real horse, and therefore we can make the argument that it is 'perfectly crafted', we do not a 'real' thing to compare this film to.

I don't think the film was perfectly crafted. I found some of the dialogue quite repetitive, and I found a lot of the humour quite clunky. I felt that some of the jokes broke up the narrative, rather than adding to it. I thought there were some scenes that detracted from the overall quality of the film.

Now, if you want to call that my personal reaction to the film rather than the film itself, you can do that, but then I don't see how anyone's reaction to a film can be anything other than a personal reaction to it.

Akrasia · 13-01-2023 9:11am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120101456#Comment_120101456

Of course you're perfectly entitled to hold that opinion about this film.

The director and screenwriter and cast made decisions about how to film and edit this movie that you don't agree with. That's fine.

The film is not perfect. I enjoyed it but it's not my all time favourite film either. Similarly with in Bruges. It's a very good movie imo that has flaws.

Akrasia · 13-01-2023 9:14am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120098882#Comment_120098882

I think Colm is supposed to be a well respected musician beyond the boundaries of the island but they don't go into their back stories so that's fully open to interpretation. I think Colm feels the weight of history on him given that he has a small musical reputation. He's clearly highly respected by the other islanders at least, but he has no lasting legacy.

Potatoeman · 13-01-2023 11:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120101593#Comment_120101593

We don’t know Colm’s reputation, he could have offered to train students for free in islands music, there are no fans, journalists or critics travelling to see him. The islanders don’t have much choice in musical options. he also doesn’t have any other friends, like Colm. Anyone he’s with is an acquaintance and not a friend.

The story is pretty much told from Padraig’s perspective. Which ironically is what Colm will be remembered for, the feud. He’s not as intelligent as he thinks either. His legacy will be the feud with Padraig the only friend he had and ultimately he will die alone and he can’t repair that friendship anymore.

My take is that the story was written by Siobhan, who leaves and writes the story from Padraig’s perspective where Colm is remembered as a cold and cruel man that discarded the only friend he had in pursuit of a legacy he neither had the skill or talent to earn.

Man Vs ManUre · 13-01-2023 6:35pm

No chance whatsoever now of Farrell winning best actor Oscar. About as much chance of your man’s fingers growing back.

Clare in Exile · 14-01-2023 10:36am

Watched this last night...and I loved it. The acting was superb, writing was excellent and the scenery was glorious. It was definitely an unconventional film, but it hit the spot for me.

I was worried beforehand that it might stray in to "Oirishness", but it didn't. The fact that everything isn't resolved at the end is one of its main attractions.

As people have said, it's a film that requires/deserves your full attention. Blink and you might just miss the scene where the postbox is being painted green, a massive piece of symbolism for the newly independent Irish Free State.

Keoghan, Farrell and Condon were especially superb. I'd be cynical about a lot of things, but for me this film deserves all the praise it has been receiving.

Worth two hours of your time...