If you watched last year’s Belfast and thought to yourself, It’s just not Irish enough, then we have a movie for you. Colin Farrell stars in the upcoming film Banshees of Inisherin, along with the Brendan Gleeson. The film is written and directed by Martin McDonagh. Farrell, Gleeson, and McDonagh are a team that know each other well — they worked together on 2008’s In Bruges, though in the meantime, McDonagh earned Oscars praise for 2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. But that’s not the only reunion in the film — Farrell is also reuniting with his The Killing of a Sacred Deer co-star Barry Keoghan. Keoghan has seen his star rise on the “unsettling young man†type in recent years, with turns in The Green Knight and Eternals, and as the Joker in The Batman, though he was not referred to as such in the film.
Banshees of Inisherin follows two men, played by Farrell and Gleeson, who reach an impasse when Gleeson’s character, Colm, decides he no longer wants to be friends with Farrell’s character, Pádraic. “A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and troubled young islander Dominic (Barry Keoghan), endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer,†reads the press release. “But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.†The film appears to be an adaptation of McDonagh’s unpublished play The Banshees of Inisheer, which was intended to be a part of his trilogy of Aran Islands–set plays including The Cripple of Inishman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Previously, McDonagh attributed the play not being staged to the fact that it “isn’t any good,†which isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. The film will premiere at TIFF 2022 before going to theaters on October 21.