Please note that there are spoilers ahead.

Martin McDonagh’s latest comedy, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” hit theaters in October 2022. The film stars Colin Farrell as Pádraic Súilleabháin and Brendan Gleeson as Colm Doherty. This is the second dark comedy directed by McDonagh in which we see Farrell and Gleeson as leads, previously seen in “In Bruges” in 2008.

The movie takes place on Inisherin, a fictional island off the coast of Ireland in 1923, and opens with Pádraic leaving his little cottage and heading towards the home of his lifelong friend Colm Sonny Larry, or Colm Doherty for short. Pádraic and Colm share a ritual of moseying on down to the pub for a 2pm drink. However, once Pádraic arrives, Colm doesn’t answer his door, and through a window, Pádraic sees Colm sitting pensively in the middle of his home. Later on, it is revealed that Colm is purposely ignoring Pádraic because he simply just doesn’t like him anymore. Colm wants to do something significant with his life, and he just doesn’t see Pádraic in that future. In fact, he believes that Pádraic’s timid and bland personality is holding him back. As Colm progressively gets more annoyed with Pádraic’s attempts to reach out to him, he threatens to cut off his own fingers for each further attempted interaction.

“The Banshees of Inisherin” gets a good laugh out of its viewers while also planting the seeds of despair throughout its runtime. The setting of the film provides a good historical backdrop, as in multiple scenes the island of Ireland can be seen in its civil warfare in the background. Ultimately, the petty feud between Colm and Pádraic and its self-destructiveness serves as a not-so-subtle reflection of the Irish civil war, whose brutality and ugliness are both near and miles away from the characters in the movie. “The Banshees of Inisherin” left me contemplative over the value of my friendships, and whether or not I had contributed enough to those who value my company.  And while I got a good laugh out of the many hilarious moments in the film, it also left me in a state of morbidity, and sometimes, that’s a good thing. “The Banshees of Inisherin” is 100% worth the watch as both an experience and a study into oneself and his/her relationships.