The Big Picture · Review · Discussion · Roundtable · Interview

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ and Top 5 Movie Friendships

November 5, 2022/ 94 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan

Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins, and Chris Ryan review Martin McDonagh's 'The Banshees of Inisherin' and handicap the Best Actor race, then rank the best movie friendships on film, with a few extra picks from Sean along the way. Sean also talks to McDonagh about the Irish Civil War backdrop, his visual influences, and reuniting with Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell.

36 films across 6 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins, Chris Ryan

The Banshees of Inisherin 2022

Martin McDonagh's fourth feature, reuniting Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell from In Bruges: on a remote island off 1920s Ireland, fiddle player Colm (Gleeson) abruptly ends his friendship with Pádraic (Farrell), then escalates to cutting off his own fingers to enforce the break. Chris calls it his favorite of the year outside Top Gun: Maverick, praising the swing from Coen-brothers-esque romp to devastation. Amanda reads it as McDonagh splitting himself into two halves, art-and-legacy versus pub-and-pleasantness, and ties the 1920s Irish Civil War backdrop to the question of how much you owe yourself versus other people. Both single out Kerry Condon as Siobhán and Barry Keoghan as Dominic, debate whether Farrell's performance is awards-bound given how bleak the film gets, and admire the hand-knit sweaters and Vermeer-style production design.

The McDonagh filmographyIn Bruges to now

In Bruges 2008

McDonagh and Gleeson/Farrell's 2008 breakout, barely seen in America on release per McDonagh and reassessed into cult status only after Farrell's Golden Globe and McDonagh's screenplay nomination. Sean rewatched it the night before but couldn't finish (the dead-kid material is 'tough'), and both hosts note the tonal mirror-flip between Gleeson's and Farrell's roles from that film to Banshees.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri poster

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 2017

Called simultaneously McDonagh's 'most complex' and, per Amanda, 'probably his worst' film. It's the only one of his with a female protagonist, and it's drawn controversy over how it handles anger and redemption.

Seven Psychopaths 2012

Brief mention for its dog acting; McDonagh calls it a tonal 'blip' in the interview, with less of the internal sadness that runs through his other films.

Six Shooter 2004

McDonagh's Oscar-winning short and his first collaboration with Brendan Gleeson, years before In Bruges.

The Best Actor racewho beats Colin Farrell

Elvis 2022

Austin Butler's performance is 'pretty incredible' per both hosts, even though Chris didn't like the film; Amanda enjoyed watching it despite being 'deaf' to Elvis as a cultural figure.

Living 2022

Bill Nighy's late-career turn, an English-language remake of Kurosawa's Ikiru from Sony Pictures Classics. Neither host has seen it yet.

The Son 2022

Hugh Jackman floated as a contender; neither host has seen it.

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths poster

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths 2022

Daniel Giménez Cacho mentioned as a possible nominee.

Bones and All 2022

Timothée Chalamet mentioned as a maybe.

Babylon 2022

Brad Pitt's supporting-vs-lead Oscar-category confusion comes up, along with Diego Calva's actual lead-actor status. Neither host has seen it; they clock the runtime at three hours eight minutes.

The Whale 2022

Brendan Fraser, described as the biggest obstacle to a Farrell win. Chris saw it that week and describes a standing ovation and an emotional post-screening Q&A.

Bing Bonga Pixar detour

Inside Out 2015

Prompted by Chris's plug for a Disney+ shorts recap show. Sean didn't expect to rewatch it but calls it masterful, and gets asked point-blank whether he cried at Bing Bong's death.

Top Five Movie Friendships Chris and Amanda's ranked fives, plus a few extras Sean threw in

Picked by Chris Ryan

Midnight Run 1988

No. 1. Charles Grodin's Jonathan Mardukas and Robert De Niro's Jack Walsh aren't friends for 99% of the film, then comes the LAX-terminal kindness Chris calls the best depiction of friendship in movie history. He and Sean compare it to their own decade-plus working relationship.

Picked by Chris Ryan

Ocean's Eleven 2001

No. 2. George Clooney's Danny Ocean and Brad Pitt's Rusty Ryan have a wordless rapport, finishing each other's sentences. Chris texted ahead to check it was okay to use it; Amanda skipped it because she talks about the Ocean's movies too much already.

Picked by Chris Ryan

My Own Private Idaho 1991

No. 3. River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, loosely built on Henry IV. Chris points to the flophouse Shakespeare scene as proof 'these guys just love hanging out'; River Phoenix was a formative, slightly older figure for him growing up.

Picked by Chris Ryan

The Shawshank Redemption 1994

No. 4. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman as Andy and Red, a friendship rendered over decades from wariness to bond. Chris pegs himself as a Red; Sean calls him an Andy.

Picked by Chris Ryan

The Sting 1973

No. 5. Robert Redford's Johnny Hooker and Paul Newman's Henry Gondorff, con men who 'got on like a house on fire.' Chris nearly picked Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid instead.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid poster

Picked by Chris Ryan

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969

Sidecar to No. 5. Chris finds it mythic, if 'expired pop'; Amanda finds it dull, 'a lot of riding bikes in circles.'

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982

No. 1. Elliott and E.T. play out the idealized childhood-friend fantasy: someone who fills the voids left by imperfect parents and neighborhood kids. Amanda wept for twenty minutes rewatching it on The Rewatchables while walking her infant son around the neighborhood.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

Stand by Me 1986

Sidecar to No. 1. One of the childhood-friendship alternates Amanda weighed against E.T., alongside My Own Private Idaho.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

Good Will Hunting 1997

No. 2. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the 'best part of my day' speech. Amanda identifies as a closed-off Chuckie type rather than a Will.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

Lost in Translation 2003

No. 3. Bill Murray's Bob and Scarlett Johansson's Charlotte have a bond that doesn't exist until the film creates it, one Amanda reads as at least partly a romance. A non-negotiable Sofia Coppola pick.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

Ferris Bueller's Day Off 1986

No. 4. Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck as Ferris and Cameron. Amanda argues Ferris being a bad-for-you friend is true to how teenage friendship actually works; one fan theory floated is that Ferris is a figment of Cameron's imagination.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

The First Wives Club 1996

No. 5. Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton team up on their exes and close the film singing 'You Don't Own Me' in white suits, backing up Amanda's thesis that female-friendship movies of the '80s through the 2000s peak with a choreographed number.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Husbands 1970

Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, and John Cassavetes as three friends processing a fourth's death. 'Not necessarily healthy friendships,' Sean says, 'but I think it's important to show those too.'

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Toy Story 1995

Woody and Buzz, prompted by watching his daughter light up at Toy Story 2 in a waiting room, an archetypal friendship he traces back to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

California Split 1974

George Segal and Elliott Gould as gambling buddies who are 'really bad for each other.' Sean's pick for his favorite movie ever made, on any given day.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Mississippi Grind 2015

Sidecar to the California Split pick. A 'full-blown remake' per Sean, and one of Ryan Reynolds's best performances, with Ben Mendelsohn 'at his peak.'

Picked by Sean Fennessey

25th Hour 2002

Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Barry Pepper as a fractured high-school trio. Sean connects it to how his own friendships from that era have or haven't held up.

In conversation

Martin McDonagh on

Days of Heaven 1978

McDonagh's main visual touchstone for Banshees, aiming for that landscape beauty and imagery, animals included.

Martin McDonagh on

Badlands 1974

The other Malick reference point for tone and image.

Martin McDonagh on

The Night of the Hunter 1955

Surfaces, per McDonagh, in the shadows of Brendan Gleeson's room.

Martin McDonagh on

Tár 2022

One of two new films McDonagh caught that weekend 'checking out the competition'; he calls it, with Triangle of Sadness, evidence of an interesting fall for movies.

Martin McDonagh on

Triangle of Sadness 2022

The second film from that same weekend.

Martin McDonagh on

Women Talking 2022

Seen at Toronto; McDonagh calls it brilliant, the kind of film where, if it wins everything, 'it's okay because we're beaten by the right people.'

Also mentioned raised along the way

In passing Top Gun: Maverick Avatar: The Way of Water Aquaman The Birds Halloween Ends Police Academy Guarding Tess Chariots of Fire Dudley Do-Right

Coming up She Said My Policeman Causeway

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

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Shorts Riley's First DateLava

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