The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

This very dark movie is something that I am not entirely sure I get. I read a review that no one does self loathing better than the Irish and that might well be the case. The film is in the region of the Danes when it comes to gruesome being almost expected. Another compared Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson to the modern day Laurel and Hardy, based on this film and their previous work together, In Bruges. To me, this is not comedy of exasperatio so much as it is desperation. The place is the island of Inisherin, just off the coast of Ireland, but insulated from the Civil War that is raging in 1923. Colm and Pádraic are feuding, but Pádraic knows not why, and Colm is not about to expand on his wish to be left alone. What follows is both horrific and inevitable, and we are glued to it even though we do not want to watch. The scenery, the cinematography, and the score are all pitch perfect backdrops to the tragic comedy that unfolds.