*I will not be spoiling the ending but still….

IMDB Synopsis

On a remote island off the coast of Ireland, Pádraic is devastated when his buddy Colm suddenly puts an end to their lifelong friendship. With help from his sister and a troubled young islander, Pádraic sets out to repair the damaged relationship by any means necessary. However, as Colm’s resolve only strengthens, he soon delivers an ultimatum that leads to shocking consequences.

“Some things there’s no moving on from. And I think that’s a good thing.”

Friendship is a weird and tricky thing, one day you are telling another human everything you know in the world and the next they may not be talking to you. Friendship is also interesting because unlike family where you are kind of forced together, you usually choose who your friends are. That is unless you live on an island off the coast of Ireland, where you basically have to be friends with whoever is around your age, even if you maybe do not like that person. That is kind of the situation Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) find themselves in at the beginning of Martin McDonagh’s new movie.

Now we all have that friend who we may not necessarily be best friends with, but we keep around because we have known them forever or they are just part of the crew. However, in this story Colm realizes he is getting older and finds his friend “dull” and tells him  he simply does not want to hang out anymore. Now this is again on a small island where everyone knows each other, and its in the 1920’s during the Irish Civil War and there is literally nothing to do besides read and go to the pub with your friends. So Pádraic naturally feels terrible about this and does not understand why his friend is doing this. Colm is determined though and even gives Pádraic an ultimatum that if he keeps talking to him he will cut off his own fingers one by one. From there we get a bunch of wacky encounters that result in hilarious yet tense scenes, because you never really know what is going to happen. All of it concluding in an unexpected, yet satisfying conclusion.

On the technical side, I think this might be the best looking movie that Martin McDonagh has ever made. THREE BILLBOARDS had some incredible scenes and IN BRUGES (Also starring Farrell and Gleeson) captured that Belgium aesthetic perfectly as well, but you can tell his love for Ireland jumping off the screen with every shot here. His DP Ben Davis has been climbing the ranks recently and has done a bunch of high profile Marvel movies and other big budget productions. We also have the great Carter Burwell doing the score who has worked for a long time with the Coen Brothers. Here he finds a great way to incorporate the Irish culture into the music while still able to inject the tense energy into each scene.

Stock Watch

Stock Up – Colin Farrell

Is this his MVP season? He has been in the game for a very long time, but he seems to be hitting a big stride recently. He had his incredible transformation in THE BATMAN earlier this year, this role, and a big role in Ron Howards upcoming film THIRTEEN LIVES. He is a phenomenal actor and I will watch anything he does at this point, but it really seems like this might be the Oscar year for him.

Stock Neutral – Martin McDonagh

He is a very well known playwright and has made some incredible movies as well. At this point he is one of the most reliable writer-directors we have, so whenever he is putting something out I will be there. I hope he continues to write stories with Ireland as a backdrop because he clearly does his best stuff in the comfort of his homeland.

*A couple other tidbits

• Any time Farrell was walking his Cows I laughed, I am only human.

• Barry Keoghan is an incredible actor I am interested to see when he is going to start getting true starring roles.

• Kerry Condon as Farrell’s sister was great and felt like she was just a native of Inisherin.

This is a really great movie honestly, with quality performances and really good direction. These are the type of adult dramas that are not getting made that often anymore and it is refreshing to see it. I hope McDonagh, Farrell, and Gleeson continue to collaborate moving forward, because they create gold together.

Juice Rating:

*You can find my 2022 Movie Rankings here.

*You can find all of my Movie Ratings here.

*You can follow my Letterboxd account here.