Martin McDonagh has spent years demonstrating an unusual talent when it comes to portraying the complex relationships of human beings immersed in universes gone crazy, always exhibiting a perfect balance between drama, black humor and violence that have shaped the profile of his four films to date. Date: Hidden in Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Announcements on the Outskirts and Almas en Pena by Inisherin, which opens this Friday in theaters in Spain and is one of the favorites for the Oscars, with permission from Todo a la vez en everywhere, with nine nominations.
The Anglo-Irish director and playwright dreamed of dedicating himself to literature from a young age and is the creator of a series of plays that have been successful both on Broadway and in London's West End. In 1996 he began the first of his three works set in County Galway and his second Irish trilogy, with the Aran Islands as a backdrop, is made up of The Lame Man of Inishmaan, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Banshees of Inisheer. The latter was never published because McDonagh did not consider it good enough. But over time, what was a text that was going to be forgotten has ended up becoming the seed of a powerful cinematographic story that has changed the name of the smallest island of the Aran, Inisheer, with barely 300 inhabitants. , for the fictional Inisherin.
The story at hand takes place there in 1923, in the middle of the Irish civil war. A grotesque, tremendously sad, crazy, cruel story with touches of comedy that emerges before a bucolic setting that the current stress of the city would invite you to immerse yourself in a simple blink; a place where the inhabitants drink their pints of beer and chat in the only pub after work while some bombs are heard in the distance.
The protagonists: Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), friends for years. Every day they meet at two in the afternoon to go for a drink at the island's pub. But one day, everything changes. When Pádraic goes to his partner's house as always and knocks on the window to go to the local together, Colm doesn't flinch. Shortly after he will throw the worst of phrases at him point-blank: "I don't like you anymore," the big man blurts out to an extremely sensitive man, unable to accept the news. "I've gotten tired of so much pointless chatter," he says to his ex-friend whom he calls "boring."
From that moment on, any attempt by Farrell's character to try to fix the mess spirals into a spiral of hatred and disinterest that grows. To the point where Colm makes good on a promise that he should never have come out of his mouth. He no longer wants to spend time with Pádraic. He only wants to dedicate himself to composing and playing the violin. Take advantage of the time you have left. Is he in a depression? This is what Pádraic thinks, a simple guy, quite limited, who takes care of his cows and his beloved donkey Jenny, animals that he adores and whom he brings into the house whenever he can.
Nothing to do with the culture that her sister Siobhán, impressive Kerry Condon, has acquired, who plays the role of caretaker after the death of her parents eight years ago and for whom the island is too small for her.
And then there's Dominic, the "dumbest" in town, a lonely young man played by Barry Keoghan, in the service of a father and police officer with a very long hand. Four Irish actors in a state of grace who aspire to an Oscar with impressive performances. Farrell, who has already won the Volpi Cup for best actor in Venice and the Golden Globe, competes as the lead, while the rest do so in the supporting category.
Although he was born and raised in London, McDonagh's parents live on the outskirts of Galway and the director turned to those familiar Irish landscapes for his new project. Filming took place over eight weeks between the island of Achill and Inishmore, on the west coast of Ireland, locations that La Vanguardia has been able to visit in first person. "Inisherin is a fictional island, so I didn't want it to be specifically a place. I wanted it to be more mythical," McDonagh says in the film's production notes.
The landscapes of the area are tremendously evocative. The scenes in the pub, which was built for the film, were shot at Achill. No sign of J.J. Devine when we visited the island, accompanied by hundreds of sheep and lashed by a strong wind. It is a perfect paradise for kayaking or hiking. Nor is the virgin on the mound where the two paths separated by stone walls fork through which the protagonists travel.
Yes, there is Colm's house, located near Keem Bay, next to a lonely beach where the last scene takes place. The owners of an old fisherman's cabin on the bay lent it to the design team. "I wanted to capture the beauty of Ireland on film and lean into that. It's true that the story is quite dark, but we wanted the images and locations to be as cinematic as possible," says the director. In Inishmore, where a hundred of its 800 inhabitants turned to the filming, the rest of the film was filmed. Pádraic and Siohhán's house was built in an area called Gort Na gCapall, where the Dún Aonghasa historical monument could be seen in the background. There was nothing beforehand, it was just the field, and that's what it is now. The front door is painted green, while Colm's is a deep red.
Cyril Flaherty, our guide on the island, is also the owner of Minnie, Farrell's horse in the film. He raves about the shooting, where the team took great care of the animals. And it is that McDonagh is a great lover of them. Flaherty, a middle-aged farmer, is a staunch fan of his island and hopes the success of the film, which opened there in October, will attract tourism. "I know my kids will get out of here as soon as they can, but no one gets me out of Inishmore," he exclaims.
Farrell and Gleeson reunite 14 years after co-starring with McDonagh in his critically acclaimed feature debut In Bruges - Gleeson had previously worked with the director on the Oscar-winning short Six shooter and Farrell reprized with McDonagh on Seven Psychopaths. “This movie is actually Hide and Seek in Bruges but 10 years later and set 90 years earlier. There was a similar love and affection, but what happens afterwards is the appearance of the dark side, and the loss of those feelings of love and affection”, explains the actor who gives life to The Penguin in The Batman. And he confesses that he admires McDonagh's way of writing, "able to change within a line and go from hilarious to painfully sad or moving."
“Her material is fun and has an anarchic quality to it. But it stands the test of time because it's also moving and relatable. We don't just tell the story of a group of people on an island. We are telling the story of human beings and exploring the themes of fidelity and friendship; of separation and loneliness; of sadness, death, pain and violence”. He also appreciates that McDonagh's writing is devoid of malice. “Of course, some characters can be incredibly malicious and downright cruel. Some events far exceed all limits. But there is never malice on the part of the scriptwriter, of the voice of the work”.
Gleeson praises the ability to quietly rehearse the script: “The rehearsals allowed us to adjust certain things. For example, how was our relationship before the events of the film. Our origin stories were different so we had to find out to what extent an intimate friendship existed. It meant that I could find my own justification for what Colm does throughout the film. I hope Inisherin's Banshees remind people that making bad or harmful decisions has a lasting effect."
In the case that the film tells, totally devastating.
