Review of The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) by Itcrowd — 11 Dec 2022

Rubbish. The film, set in Ireland in 1923, opens with "Polegnala E Todora" from "Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares", a piece of Bulgarian music recorded in 1975, and continues its downhill slide thereafter.

Very dark and depressing. Plot, characters, and dialogue unbelievable.

Very clichéd picture of Ireland with every stereotype deployed: Guinness, musicians, clergy, a mad mystic woman. There are very vague references to the Civil War of 1923 (loud booms from the mainland) but not explored further or explained - could probably have been removed and the film wouldn't have suffered. And how the fighting, the vast majority of which took place in and around Dublin, could be heard from a small island off the West Coast of Ireland, is one of the many inconsistencies that the audience is required to ignore.

My biggest criticism is that the audience is required to do too much work to help plug the leaking holes in the plot. It is just a story, at the end of the day, but you have to suspend too many critical faculties to help it limp along.

The worst film I've seen this year, unfortunately.