He is, perhaps, the best of this year’s ten Oscar nominees. It has it all: comedy, drama, depth, humor, and amazing performances from the entire cast. the spirits of the islandwith Colin Farrell and Brendan GleesonIt’s not to be missed.
Martin McDonagh (3 ads for a crime) reunited Farrell and Gleeson, stars of Hidden away in Bruges (2008), which was a wonder about two hit men left behind in that city.
The film has lots and lots of humour, some violence and is about the friendship of two men in a sleepy town off the coast of mainland Ireland in 1923 as the civil war rages on, but that’s a far cry from action.
But one day, one afternoon, something terrible happens.
“I just don’t like you anymore,” Colm (Gleeson) tells Pádraic Súilleabháin (Farrell) dryly. I can not stand it. He is tired of aimless chatter, he is tired of his (ex) friend’s harmless conversations, he is tired of boredom and wants to leave something for the future: compose a song with his violin, The Banshees of Inisherinwhich gives the film its title has 9 Oscar nominationsincluding film, director, original screenplay and four of its performers.
Pádraic is one of those who does not conceive or accept No for an answer and, annoying as it may be, Colm issues him an ultimatum. An ultimatum that will affect his life more than friendship. If Pádraic bothers him again, he will cut his finger for every attempt at conversation.
The meeting is in a pub, at 2 in the afternoon -normal time for these two men to drink more than a pint of beer-. Other equally adorable characters and for which their interpreters also aspire to separate statuettes from the Hollywood Academy for the best supporting performance are those that make up Kerry Condon (Stacy in Better call Saul) as Siobhan, Pádraic’s maiden sister, and Dominic (Barry Keoghan, Druig in Eternals, Dunkirk), the young man with fewer lights than the city and the son who mistreats the island’s detestable policeman (Gary Lydon).
Although branded as the village idiot, it is Dominic who best defines the situation and Colm’s decision, when he tells Pádraic about his (ex) friend “How old is he? 12?” Pádraic is a milkman who lives in a modest country house, with his cows and his donkey, and doesn’t understand what’s going on. A marriage can end in divorce, but his years of friendship with Colm can end ?
Wit, speed and humour
Martin McDonagh is not only a great dialogue writer and screenwriter. His scripts have ingenuity in the construction of stories, speed, lucidity and a charge of surprise in the answers that one character gives to another, and he handles the humor like no other.
the spirits of the island is a very dark comedy, with something macabre, in which he examines male pride.
And if there is laughter because it is comedy, there are also other types of grimaces. Gasps of pain
But what McDonagh does is examine what happens when someone isolates themselves from all communication. Misunderstandings, and assumptions can lead to confusion and heartache.
The island of Inisherin is fictional, it doesn’t exist, but a certain myth that the film uses, with a Death who prowls with a woman’s name and a staff with a hook instead of a scythe, with spirits or souls suffer from the title, has its roots in Irish tales. It’s a multilayered film, like all good films.
“The Spirits of the Island”
Very good
Comedy drama. Ireland/UK/USA, 2022. 114′, SAM 13 R. From: Martin McDonagh. With: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan. Rooms: Cinépolis Recoleta and Houssay, Hoyts Abasto, Cinemark Caballito, Showcase Belgrano.
Source: Clarin
