There is a certain indefinable kind of film that no one does like the Irish. And 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin is a prime example. You’re having a lovely time admiring the breathtaking scenery and the witty banter and Colin Farrell and his donkey when all of a sudden Brendan Gleeson is threatening to chop off his fingers one by one.
Irish movies can blend genres seamlessly, having you laughing one moment and crying the next, unsure if you’re watching a drama or a black comedy or a thriller or something you never thought could be a movie at all. Ireland’s rich literary tradition certainly has something to do with it; when your country’s most famous novel clocks in at over 700 pages and encapsulates just one day in the life of a certain Leopold Bloom, stream-of-consciousness prose zipping back and forth throughout a narrative that can shift at a moment’s notice from a play-like structure to a discourse on Irish mythology, from tender love story to a masturbatory peeping Tom situation, odds are your cinema isn’t going to be straightforward.
The Banshees of Inisherin is proving (deservedly) to be a smash hit. Originally receiving acclaim for his plays, director Martin McDonagh followed up that success with screenwriting and directing as well, notably In Bruges and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (he wrote, directed, and produced The Banshees of Inisherin). Both Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell have enjoyed Hollywood success, but they both absolutely shine in this film (and in their previous McDonagh outing together, In Bruges). You’ll see all three of these names pop up in the following list, but hopefully also learn a few more, taking a look at some good films to follow up with if you are a fan of The Banshees of Inisherin.
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10 Intermission (2003)
Buena Vist International
This dark comedy features a stellar ensemble cast, with Cillian Murphy, Colin Farrell, Kelly Mcdonald, Colm Meaney, and Shirley Henderson, for a start. The tale is woven with the fabric of a number of characters in Dublin, whose lives eventually all come together in unexpected ways. Charming thief Farrell is chased by slightly psychopathic cop Meaney, grocery clerk regrets breaking up with his girlfriend Macdonald and makes the unwise decision to go in on a bank robbery with Farrell, which, unbeknownst to him, will involve Macdonald’s new bank manager boyfriend. And Henderson is Macdonald’s brittle lovelorn sister, who may or may not have a mustache. It’s a sweet slice of Dublin life spliced with moments of action and heartbreak and heroism, a little dark but not too dark, lit up with truly sparkling performances and a fun early 2000s soundtrack.
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9 Disco Pigs (2001)
Renaissance Films
One of Cillian Murphy’s first starring roles was in this adaptation of an Enda Walsh play (he also played the part in the original stage version) directed by Kirsten Sheridan. He plays Pig to Elaine Cassidy’s Runt, teenage best friends in Cork who live an entirely insular life with each other, speaking in their own peculiar patois and avoiding contact with all others as much as possible. Their parents worry about the intensity of their friendship, which takes a dark turn when Runt rejects Pig’s romantic overtures. It’s an arresting film about a world of just two people, and what happens when one of them wants out. By turns funny, tragic, and violent, it’s an unusual film that gets its strength from Murphy and Cassidy’s stellar performances.
8 Calvary (2014)
Entertainment One
Brendan Gleeson stars as a man who came to the priesthood late in life in this dark film by John Michael McDonagh (Martin’s older brother). The all-star supporting cast includes Chris O’Dowd as a volatile butcher, M. Emmet Walsh as a suicidal writer, Kelly Reilly as the priest’s daughter who feels he abandoned her, and Domhnall Gleeson (Brendan Gleeson’s real-life son) as an imprisoned killer cannibal. FIlming mostly took place in County Sligo, and the wild, stark landscape reflects the issues dealt with by Gleeson’s priest and his unhappy parishioners. It’s not a happy film, but it is a beautiful one, as the priest deals with his and everyone else’s demons.
7 In Bruges (2008)
Focus Features
If you loved the chemistry between Gleeson and Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin but haven’t yet caught their earlier McDonagh pairing, rectify this immediately! Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) are London-based hit men on an enforced vacation in Belgium after Ray accidentally kills a child while carrying out a hit. Ralph Fiennes plays their sinister boss Harry, who has decided that Ray’s mistake deserves punishment. The movie is dark and vicious, sharp and acerbic, a sort of British gangster film dropped down in the middle of a medieval city full of picturesque canals. The dialogue is caustically hilarious, punctuated by violence that seems especially startling given the fairy tale setting. There is some talk between Gleeson, Farrell, and McDonagh that Banshees could easily be the second installment in a trilogy started with In Bruges, so we’ve got our fingers crossed.
6 The Butcher Boy (1997)
Warner Bros.
Based on Patrick McCabe’s 1992 novel, The Butcher Boy is a black comedy about Francie, a young boy in the ’60s who is losing his grip on reality. His family life is horrific, but the fantasy world into which he retreats is increasingly violent. The supporting cast includes Stephen Rea as Francie’s alcoholic father; Fiona Shaw as a snobbish neighbor; Brendan Gleeson as a terrifying priest named Father Bubble, and even Sinead O’Connor as the Virgin Mary. Director Neil Jordan managed to take a novel that was considered pretty much unadaptable and turn it into a film that manages to maintain humor and tenderness in the face of impossibly bleak subject matter.
5 The General (1998)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Another film starring Brendan Gleeson, this one based on the true story of Martin Cahill, a Dublin crime boss who pulled off robberies during the 1980s. Cahill was a family man (a complicated family, as he also has children over a number of years with his wife’s sister) from the slums, who rose to prominence as a sort of Robin Hood character, rather beloved by his community, and even grudgingly respected by the police. Gleeson’s jovial Cahill goes up against Jon Voight’s police inspector, dodging and weaving as each tries to catch the other out. Cahill ultimately met a grisly end, shot to death by a still-unknown gunman on a motorbike. It’s an empathetic look at a criminal who was generally thought to be more than the sum of his crimes. (Film trivia: Cahill himself once burgled John Boorman’s home, getting away with the gold record the director won for Deliverance.)
4 Once (2007)
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Lest you think that every Irish film is a dark comedy or peppered with violence, Once is an incredibly charming, down-to-earth romantic comedy, starring former real-life partners and bandmates Glen Hansard (lead singer of Irish band The Frames) and Markéta Irgovlá (together the two headlines The Swell Season). Hansard is a struggling busker whose singing and playing attracts the attention of Irglová’s flower seller as their meet cute. He discovers she is a musician as well, albeit married to a man who is still in the Czech Republic. They begin a friendship rooted in a mutual love of music, although Hansard’s character quickly falls for his new friend. The songs they perform together are a highlight of the sweet, quiet story, and it’s no surprise that the hit film spawned a successful stage musical as well.
3 The Guard (2011)
Sony Pictures Classics
There are not a lot of Irish buddy cop comedies, maybe because this one was so good they didn’t need any more? Brendan Gleeson plays Gerry Boyle, a crude, unpleasant Connemara cop who is not known for his good behavior. After the arrival of a drug trafficker on the local scene, the FBI sends Don Cheadle as agent Wendell Everett, Boyle’s straight-laced polar opposite. The film is written and directed by John Michael McDonagh once again, and ended up being the most successful independent Irish film to date. It’s a highly enjoyable dark comedy, although a bit lighter than other outings by the McDonagh brothers.
2 Frank (2014)
Magnolia Pictures
This altogether, unlike-anything-else-you-ever-scene film isn’t as strictly Irish as the other entries on this list, but it was produced by Irish production companies and stars Michael Fassbender as the title character along with Domhnall Gleeson. The whole thing is based on a Jon Ronson newspaper article about Frank Sidebottom, the comic persona of musician Chris Sievey, who was bandmates with Ronson. In this fictionalized story, Frank is still the lead singer of a band, whose main quirk (one of many) is that he always wears a giant paper måché head. By happenstance, Gleeson’s character ends up joining Frank’s band, The Soronprfbs, whose music can really only be described as an acquired taste. The experimental band embarks upon a year in a secluded cabin in Ireland, but much like almost everything else in the film, that doesn’t quite work out for them. The plot would take far too long to describe; suffice it to say, this is a weird and delightful film, funny and sad and head-scratching throughout.
1 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
A24
Another Irish-produced film, this psychological horror enigma was directed by Academy Award winner Yorgos Lanthimos and pairs the reluctant buddies of The Banshees of Inisherin (Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan) as a cardiac surgeon and a teenage boy whose father died on the surgeon’s operating table. The relationship between the two (and their families) is instantly troubling. Farrell’s family begins to fall ill one at a time, and Keoghan informs him that as payback for his own father’s death, Farrell must kill one of his own family members as retribution. Like Lanthimos’ other films, it’s hard to pin down in any one genre other than perhaps interesting and upsetting, driven by idiosyncratic performances.
