THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN Q&A with Martin McDonagh | TIFF 2022

The team behind THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN in conversation with TIFF in advance of its premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson reteam for this pitch-black comic fable of wounded friendship and the perils of petty grievance, the latest from Oscar-winning writer-director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).
The 47th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 8 to 18, 2022. For more, visit tiff.net.
From the vibrant imagination of Oscar- winning writer-director Martin McDonagh comes this pitch-black comic fable of wounded friendship and the perils of petty grievance. Reuniting McDonagh with his ingenious In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin is enchanting, poignant, and relentlessly entertaining. Set in 1923 on the fictional island of Inisherin, just off Ireland’s west coast, our story begins with a slight. As he does every day, Pádraic (Farrell) calls on his pal Colm (Gleeson) to go for a pint. When he doesn’t answer the door and later refuses to sit with him at the pub, Pádraic is dumbfounded. “I just don’t like you anymore,” Colm explains. He’d rather save his energy for his newfound hobby, composing music, instead of wasting the days away with Pádraic. Unwilling to accept that their friendship is over, Pádraic continues confronting Colm, until Colm posits a gruesome ultimatum. The result of this standoff soon involves the whole village, with no one able to predict the lengths to which this feud will go. The Banshees of Inisherin brims with conflicts vast and intimate, from the ongoing abuse wreaked upon a young townie (Barry Keoghan, reuniting here with his The Killing of a Sacred Deer co-star Farrell) by his policeman father to the sounds of civil war echoing across Galway Bay. As he did with the 2017 TIFF People’s Choice Award winner Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, McDonagh strikes a balance between allegory and the immediacy of interpersonal drama, keeping us in fits of laughter as we recognize the all-too-human nature of his brilliantly drawn characters.
Martin McDonagh was born in London to Irish parents. He is a renowned playwright and filmmaker, and won an Academy Award for his debut short, Six Shooter (06). He subsequently directed In Bruges (08) and Seven Psychopaths (12), which played at the Festival and received the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (17) also screened at TIFF and won the People’s Choice Award. The Banshees of Inisherin (22) is his latest film.

[@tmontes1974]

Well done ! Can’t wait to see it again.

[@FrancoisDressler]

Lovely.

[@mjw12345]

Damn - there should have been spoiler alert, Jenny dies!

[@65g4]

Its kind of your own fault i wouldnt watch a Q and A of a film until ive seen it. Everyone knows these things are done are in front of audiences who have just had a screening of the film. So of course they are going to get into spoilers with questions

[@mjw12345]

@@65g4 I'm a donkey lover. No big deal to be honest - I was reflecting a bit more on a lot of online stuff lamenting spoilers on the finger stuff - anyone with even vague acquaintance with McD knows what happens.