I knew almost nothing about The Banshees of Inisherin when I watched a roundtable featuring among others its director Martin McDonagh. I also failed to recognized that he wrote and directed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which I loved. I found him somehow uninspiring. His answers were short and didn't really give more insight to how his mind works. At some point I even thought to myself, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is dating this man? I was confused. Glimpsing at the trailer and the premise, I wasn't really interested assuming it will be a slow paced period movie, with minimal setting, full of long dialogues. But then I heard so many good reviews and I was intrigued. So even though I had a lot of things I want and need to watch, I watched The Banshees of Inisherin. And within a month, I've already watched it twice.
It reminds me somehow of the writer Elena Ferrante who is famous for never revealing who she really is. She wrote on her book "La Frantumaglia" that she doesn't want to be involved in the media circus, and that the book, the art, should speak of itself and that alone should be enough. It either reaches the audience or it doesn't, the profile of the author themselves should have nothing to do with it. I had been thinking about this Elena Ferrante thing for a while, whether we should separate the art and the artist. On one hand I'm always intriqued about the people behind the art, the story behind it, the motivation, and all that. Like I'm searching for some kind of relatability with the creator because isn't that what great art is all about, about how one idea can resonate with other people. On the other hand, a creator chooses a certain medium to present their ideas and that medium alone should be enough to tell their stories without them have to explain themselves again in another way. Let the audience interpret what feels right to each of them.
I remember watching couple of videos of Jennette McCurdy when she's doing press after publishing her memoir "I'm Glad My Mom Died". Everyone commented on how eloquent she is as a person and that she must be so intelligent how she could articulate her mind so beautifully in public. It baffled me. What if someone is quiet and shy, can't really speak in public, does that mean she's not as intelligent? Does it negate how good the book she has written is? We of course live in an era of abundancy of media where marketing is a somewhat a necessary element for something to reach the audience and to stand out. The public persona of the actual artist is somehow put in the same importance of the art itself. I think this is sad.
That said, I love The Banshees of Inisherin. Watching it felt like reading one of those absurd literary fiction books. It's the kind of movie that lingers for a while even after you've finished watching. All the actors performed so well, I found myself rooting for every single one of them. The place, the setting, felt like a part of the characters itself. I ended up watching and rewatching all the other McDonagh's films, Three Billboards, Seven Psychopaths, and In Bruges. In the end I laughed and told myself, well of course Phoebe Waller-Bridge is dating this man. There's a limit, I think, to how a creator should be harassed to explain their creations, however important marketing is. Some genius just couldn't or shouldn't be explained.
That said, I love The Banshees of Inisherin. Watching it felt like reading one of those absurd literary fiction books. It's the kind of movie that lingers for a while even after you've finished watching. All the actors performed so well, I found myself rooting for every single one of them. The place, the setting, felt like a part of the characters itself. I ended up watching and rewatching all the other McDonagh's films, Three Billboards, Seven Psychopaths, and In Bruges. In the end I laughed and told myself, well of course Phoebe Waller-Bridge is dating this man. There's a limit, I think, to how a creator should be harassed to explain their creations, however important marketing is. Some genius just couldn't or shouldn't be explained.
