We ended up doing an episode on an Oscar-nominated film after all, and luckily it's a GREAT choice: The Banshees of Inisherin!
The Oscars are upon us once again! Oh joy! And with it comes the celebration of our favourite films of the past year! Be it a film about an everything bagel, the return of a disgraced fighter pilot or the brutalization of a donkey for a vapid attempt of portraying a deep message as justification, it falls into our immediate interests that our personal favourite is Martin McDonagh's THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN.
This film is simply a deeply dark comedic gem and should be experienced rather than explained. Stop what you're doing and watch it now if you haven't already. And if you have, enjoy Ryan's return to the hot seat with a melancholic love of this particular piece of cinema.
Martin McDonagh is becoming a new favorite, and cementing his place in our hearts with 2022's The Banshees of Inisherin.
Ryan: Wow. There you go. Jesus. As a sneeze, I did force you to you should never do that. Yeah. Should never close your nose while you sneeze. Well, my pal my pal did that once and, uh, one of his eyes popped out.
Laura: Hello there. Welcome to On the BiTTE the podcast that uncovers full frontal male nudity in cinema. My name is Laura, and I am so happy to be joined once again by my co host, Ryan.
Ryan: Yeah, it was a nice little, uh, nice little vacation for me.
Laura: Nice little holiday.
Ryan: Yes. Uh, I got to not be on a podcast for once.
Laura: I decided that for Valentine's Day, I didn't want to hang out with you. I wanted to hang out with Renee.
Ryan: Well, don't be surprised if nothing happens on the 14th, just so you know.
Laura: What do you mean?
Ryan: Well, actually, by the time this comes out, it's already been exactly yeah, nothing happened. Sorry.
Laura: That's weird.
Laura: So today we are going to be talking about the 2022 new film, um, which hopefully everyone's seen already. Guess who call it a drama comedy. A dark comedy. A dramedy banshees of Inisherin
Ryan: Yes. Well, we're talking about this film in particular because the Oscars were announced earlier. Earlier?
Laura: I feel like you don't know time.
Ryan: Right now at the end of January. Well, we're not doing an future past. Well, we're not doing an Oscars episode because, uh, the one we did for last year was, uh, an unmitigated bitch fest.
Laura: So there are films that we like. I mean, there was films that we liked last year, but this one is so good in this opinion.
Ryan: Yeah, this one, Bill, unfortunately, um, there's only two films that are probably going to get any of the recognition. And that's one Banshees, which I feel like deserves it. And the second one is Everything Everywhere, all at Once, which I think doesn't deserve it.
Laura: You're going to be super polarizing at the beginning of this. Oh, no. Everyone loves everything everywhere um, they do.
Ryan: And I don't know why.
Laura: I've heard so many good things. We watched it. Maybe I was a little sleepy. It didn't pull me in too much. But that doesn't mean that I won't like it on a second viewing, which I will watch alone without you.
Ryan: Why do you have to pander to the general public?
Laura: You have your role as you're part of the hosting and I have mine, which I'm the everyman yeah, you're the person. I'm the crowd please.
Ryan: Well, you're the one who diametrically opposes anything that I say. That's pretty much what you are.
Laura: It is my favorite thing when also.
Ryan: You are my loving wife.
Laura: I do love you very much. It's funny. Uh, our friend Josh, our friend of the podcast will screenshot on Letterboxd when we have completely opposite views on films where it'll be side by side. Me giving something five stars, and you, Ryan, giving something one star. And I love that about us.
Ryan: Yeah. But we don't have that feeling for.
Laura: Banshees of inNatural, which is why it's so special. Ah, that's what I like about this film. I like it when we can agree.
Ryan: On, uh, how surprising it would be that we agree that a good film is a good film, as opposed to it's not a populist choice.
Laura: I mean, it is also, uh, everyone I haven't heard of anyone not like.
Ryan: It'S popular for the fact that it's actually quite entertaining and it's quite a good story, and it's a good film.
Laura: I like a dark comedy. It's probably my favorite kind. I mean, this is a dark upsetting. This is sad, heartfelt character study.
Ryan: This is a pitch black comedy, as Martin Ah is apt to create.
Laura: He does. And so let me just, before know, continue gushing over this film. Okay? Um, the synopsis of this film, pulled from Letterboxed, is two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of.
Ryan: Yeah. Yeah. This film doesn't waste any time, I think. Let's go into what Martin's done before and what has brought him here to this precise moment in his career.
Laura: Martin McDonough.
Ryan: Martin. Madonna. Madonna McDonough. M the McDonough. Um, yeah. So m Martin McDonough. Um, he is a slash Irish playwright, screenwriter, producer, and director. Um, but, yeah, he was born in London, and he was born to Irish parents. So, um, that's for the British Irish thing there. Um, let's just say he's known for his absurdist black humor. And, uh, certainly in his playwriting, he's definitely got quite an illustrious career as a playwright. Um, he challenges the modern theater aesthetic, which, uh, I think is bold. But certainly his stuff is very, uh, dark.
Laura: Wow.
Ryan: Fuck. Is that? Yeah. So I think it's important to kind of challenge, I guess, modern theater aesthetics. Let's just put it that way. I think that's enough to say about what he does. Anyway, um, he's known for writing, fundamentally, two main trilogies of plays. And that's obviously not discounting, um, the abundance of other stuff that probably isn't under the same bracket as that. But, uh, let's just pull off a few that I've got written down here. Uh, anyway, let's go back to this list. Okay, so here's some stuff. Um, The Beauty Queen of Leen in 1996, the Cripple of Innishnan, uh, in 96, uh, The Lonesome West in 97, the Lieutenant Of inish Moore, 2001, a Behandling in Spokane in 2010, and another one, which is Hangman in 2015. But I think Hangman is also not part of either one of the main trilogies. And those trilogies are aptly called, uh, uh, set in Leanne. Or basically, like, he has two locales, so the ones that are set in Leanne, which is what I think it's called, um, that's part of one trilogy. And then there is also the second, which is the Aran Islands. Um, but also this is Banshee's. People have suspected that the final part of his Aron Islands trilogy he didn't like. So this is potentially the revisiting of that final piece that he wanted to revisit, um, which he didn't publish, he didn't put out there into the public.
Laura: Yeah. I remember reading something where he was saying that he likes doing films more than theater. So maybe he just started to write this as a play and said, well, no, never mind. I'm going to make it bigger. M going to make it grander. Yeah.
Ryan: Ah.
Laura: Um, camera to it.
Ryan: Yeah. Well, I think his work lends quite well to being cinematic, but I would guess that he gets his start in film with the short film Six Shooter, which we also watched today because we'd never seen it before.
Laura: So good.
Ryan: It's a really good short film. It's only half an hour. I mean, it was good enough that it won the Academy Award for best Live Action back in 2004. Um, but I guess I think that short film is the thing that springboards him, uh, into the film career that he now has. And then, to be fair, uh, Gleason Papa Gleason is also in Six Shooter, so it's definitely got a fair amount. M of money behind it, and it definitely looks like it was expensive. And also, Film Four put their kind of partnership to it as well. So it's not like he just decided to make a film. There was quite a lot of planning that kind of went into making that thing. But it's also well worth it. I mean, it's well worth the accolades. It's incredibly funny.
Laura: Yeah. You guys can find that on the Internet. Just search for it. It's on YouTube. I think it's on vimeo as well.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: So worth it. Such a good time.
Ryan: And in terms of his films, um, we start off with in Bruge in 2008, which is very popular. Seven Psychopaths in 2012. Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, in 2017, which I thought was a really big front runner for Oscars, uh, during the 2018 season, I think it was. And, uh, we then follow up with, uh, Banshees of Inner Shiran in, uh, 2022. And I'm thinking, do I have anything else here? No, I do not.
Laura: I feel really kind of proud. I know he doesn't have a long filmography, but I've seen all of them, and I feel really excited about it. I love his shit. I love this dude's gig. I'm down with what he's got going on.
Ryan: So this will sound kind of weird to everybody, but I've only seen Banshees in his short film. I've not seen any of the rest of them.
Laura: But that's exciting. I find that exciting. I never really get upset when I talk to someone about films that I really like that they haven't seen. It's an opportunity here's, the pleasure in the future.
Ryan: Yeah. Here's the thing. I think in Bruges indefinitely, seven Psychopaths were touted to me by people who were like, oh, you won't fuck up. Believe that, man. Like, I had such a good time watching those movies. They were great day. So I decided I wasn't going to watch them. Yeah, well, obviously I've learned more since. Thanks. And I remember someone said the same thing about Under Siege, but Under Siege is pretty good.
Laura: Oh, the seagal, the seagal.
Ryan: The Tommy Lee Jones. Yes.
Laura: Under Siege.
Ryan: Oh, God. They believe that, man. That's like that thing on the boat, eh?
Laura: Uh, under siege is incredible. And Tommy Lee Jones has this kind of hippie thing going on.
Ryan: It does? Yeah.
Laura: He's so good.
Ryan: Yeah, he's a wild man.
Laura: I think I screamed when I saw him in that film. I was so excited. This, uh, is not about under siege. I apologize.
Ryan: Yeah. I was going to make a Top Gun Maverick joke, but I fucking screwed up.
Laura: Well, Top, uh, Gun Maverick is a joke in and of itself.
Ryan: There's nothing fun about it.
Laura: That movie barfs red, white, and blue, it's disgusting.
Ryan: Yeah, I mean, the original Top Gun, I think, is like an Englishman's take on well, actually, no, it's Tony Scott's hour and a half long sports commercial. That's pretty much what it is with just like real planes doing real shit, which is obviously what they did with Maverick. But, uh, yeah, we won't be covering Top Gun Maverick. The only dick you see in that is Tom Cruise.
Laura: So let me tell you the tagline of this film. It is four words. Everything was fine yesterday. Oh, it hurts me so. Oh, uh, hurts my heart. Oh my god. Okay, so this movie we already talked about Papa Gleason, but it's got Papa Brendan Gleason, which is the second time we get to talk about sweet Papa Gleason.
Ryan: Yeah, I do like gleason. Quite a fair. He's my favorite Gleason, let's put it that way.
Laura: I love all the Gleasons. I'm a big Gleason family fan. Uh, I'm m gaga for the Gleasons. Um, Colin Farrell is in this film. Carrie Conden, barry Keegan and Gary Linden. Um, is the garda cop.
Ryan: Yes. Um, yeah, there's going to be I'll be kind of jumping back. I can kind of remember the two main names we're going to be talking most about, obviously, Gleason and Farrell the entire time. But that's colm and boric.
Laura: Patrick. Is it Patrick or Podrick?
Ryan: Podrick. I thought it was Boric.
Laura: P-A-D-R-A-I-C. It's like the Gaelic version of Patrick Podrick.
Ryan: Yeah. So it said like barak, isn't it?
Laura: Well, I guess you come from a.
Ryan: Well, I thought that's why they say it in the movie.
Laura: Say it again.
Ryan: Barak.
Laura: It's with a P, though.
Ryan: Or park. Potok, isn't it? Potdock.
Laura: Sure.
Ryan: It's probably.
Laura: Differently from yeah, I mean, either way.
Laura: Um, I want to bring up one more thing. Uh, Martin McDonough's brother is also a director. And I don't think we'll talk about him, but he also directed Papa Gleason in Calvary that came out in 2014 and The Guard in 2011. Both have gleason in it. So Gleason is very entangled with the McDonough's and Calvary is freaking awesome. Have you seen Calvary?
Ryan: I've not seen Calvary. No.
Laura: So good. It's so gross.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Love it.
Ryan: Okay, well, uh, yeah, we can probably check that out at some point. Not for the podcast, but we can just watch it.
Laura: Um, I would love to.
Ryan: Yeah. I think here's the key to fantastic writing is it sets up the premise in less than five minutes from the minute it kicks off, is that you're introduced to Padrick and, uh, you introduce to the world, you're introduced to the community, you're introduced to what effectively is their daily routine. And then you're going to get a sense of that, uh, monotony as it's like a driving force for why Calm is acting the way he's acting. And, uh, he's going to go meet his pal at 02:00, as they do every day, to go to the pub, to have a few pints, to, I guess, I don't know, just shoot the shit, have a wee chat, have a wee bit of banter. And that's just a daily routine. But what you find, and this is kind of obviously how they set it up, is that Calm has very suddenly and quite distinctly decided he doesn't want anything to do with Podrick anymore.
Laura: Yeah. And.
Ryan: It begins innocently enough, you think?
Laura: Yeah. Well, it begins you see, uh, Patrick, he's happy. He's so pure. The look on his face is just innocent joy. And he's walking around in the place he's lived his whole life, living on this island, knowing what he, like you said, knowing what he's going to do each day, has his pals, has his pub, all is grand. And then it just gets absolutely rocked by the fact that his absolute best friend is ignoring him.
Ryan: And also, I would also say that this is quintessential small island living. So certainly there's gossip, there's chatter. Like, certainly when we meet the women who own the post office a little bit further down the road at the docks, um, they're always like, have you got any news? Is there any news? What's the news?
Laura: What's the hot goss?
Ryan: It's like, well, he doesn't have any news. You hear that? He didn't have any news. It's got nothing to say. So basically there's not a lot going on. But what you do see is that once this kind of friendship, this divide kind of starts to split them down the middle, um, it does become very much a, uh, talking point. It starts to create rifts within the community because of how incidental it is. But then also how devastating this one decision ends up being.
Laura: It's so interesting how it's kind of juxtaposed against the actual civil war that's happening in Ireland, literally across the water that they can see occurring on a regular basis. It's kind of at the end of the Irish Civil War. What was it like 21?
Ryan: No, it was 22 to 23.
Laura: Okay.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: So that's occurring. They're watching bombs going off and they're hearing gunfire. And so you have this war occurring.
Ryan: And I also need to also need to point out, before we get too far, we already know it's 2022 and 2023. So obviously that was 1922 and 1923. Ah, it's exactly 100 years ago now.
Laura: Great. Yeah. And having that set against the smaller civil war that's happening between these two people, that means so much more to them than the war happening in their own country. So it just rocks this community and rocks these two people in such an intense way.
Ryan: Yes. Have you been Rowan? You're Rowan? Have you been Rowan?
Laura: I didn't think we were.
Ryan: I didn't think we were. Did I say anything? Were you Rowan? You must be Rowan. Um, but what you really kind of get is, I guess, like the day to day, like the on we of just their lives. They're all incredibly self sufficient. They've got their own little kind of tight knit community. There's no warding, there's no nonsense.
Laura: There's some terrible shit that's also happening to people that maybe they just don't.
Ryan: Talk about, I guess, because on the surface, obviously, it feels quite quaint and innocent for the most part. Um, yeah. There is obviously underlying things. I mean, certainly we find out a little bit more. And obviously, Officer Kearney ends up being the focus quite primarily on one particular moment, obviously, in this film that obviously, uh, pervades to our interests. Um, but, ah, you do find that he is, uh, other than being quite unfriendly, he never offers a hello back. Um, the cop.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: Yeah. To product at any point. Um, we end up finding out he's just a real fucking piece of shit.
Laura: Classic cop.
Ryan: Yeah. And I mean, he uses his yeah, he uses well, he's also quite tight knit with the vicar of the church as well, who is also a little bit of a piece of shit as well. Um, so you do find, like, the institutions or the institutional members of this community hold all the, uh, either the purse strings or, uh, the suspected and advertised commas power are obviously, uh, the biggest pieces of shit on the island.
Laura: Oh, dear. Yeah.
Laura: So right after Podrick is trying to get calm to go down to the pub, doesn't he end up going back home to see his sister Siobhan? And, uh, he's like, I don't know what's going on. And she's again going, did you row? What's going on? And she just says, maybe he just doesn't like you anymore.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Which is quite I don't know, just quite a shocking statement. That is quite meant as a joke.
Ryan: Yeah, it's meant as a joke. But it's also very literal, even without her knowing the situation. Because to be honest.
Laura: Because it's so out of the blue. And they couldn't even imagine that occurring because they're such staples of this community and best friends. And everyone knows that they're friends. So just hear like, AHA, he probably just doesn't like you anymore. It's like, oh, fuck off. Of course he does.
Ryan: It's tearing Podrick his soul apart. He cannot fathom why this is happening. And it's as if someone has told him that his dog that he's had for like 15 years has died in the most brutal manner. And this is what he's portraying is just this utter confusion and this sense of malcontent. And he just can't deal with it well.
Laura: Exactly. So when they go there's one evening where they go down to the pub and Calm's hanging out with Dominic, uh, Barry Keegan, who's the son of the Garda cop who's a piece of shit. And he's saying, why isn't he speaking to you? And and uh, even Dominic goes, what is you know, it's a childish thing to mean. And he's right. That stuff happens. I don't know if it happened to you at school, but it absolutely happened to me in school, where all of a sudden people just decided not to be my friend. And uh, they were much more cruel because they're school children. But uh, they just would ignore me like I didn't exist. And that is heartbreaking.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: You think about it now, if my best friends said, I just don't want to be your friend anymore, uh, I just have other things I want to focus my time on and you're dull, I would die. It would rip me to shreds.
Ryan: We do find out, uh, eventually why he's come to this, while columns come to this decision to ignore his friend. And it's literally within the span of 24 hours he's decided to go through with this. But, uh, here's the thing. I kind of sympathize with Calm's predicament, right? He's an older man. He's obviously getting on in life. He's also a musician. Um, he also has these things. But again, I think the monotony of this kind of daily no, there doesn't seem to be any women on the island. Like he's single. Uh, Padre's also fucking single. Um, he does live with his sister, obviously. But what you find out is obviously with the sister. Sister has kind of higher aspirations as to what she wants to do with her life.
Laura: Kind of just seems like she's there after their parents had passed away to take care of him. Because he's not inept or anything. He's a capable human being, but he is a bit he's not simple.
Ryan: But I would also say that he's a little naive. He's a little bit in his ways, very sensitive. And also, I don't think he makes jokes and stuff about, obviously, sister, uh, what's her, uh you know, she likes to know she's quite well read. And he makes just like, why would you read so he's only educated in the things that he knows he needs to do to survive. Let's just put it that way. Right. So he's herding cows, he's got obviously his animals, he looks after. And then obviously the kind of the daily grind of what he does. So he is not an interesting or worldly man, and I don't mean that in a negative sense, but he knows his world. He is in his bubble and that's what it is. Right. And that is 99% of the people who live, they breathe, they die on this island. Um, and again, I feel like I sympathize with Colin because I feel like if you feel like you're being stifled or if there's any sense of like, oh my, like time is literally running away from me. Where's my stamp on the like I feel like there's a lot more to the world than just this bubble that I feel like I've stuck myself into. Um, I can fully sympathize with what he's going to do. The thing is and obviously he realizes kind of how harshly he's kind of putting his viewpoint out there. He probably could have handled the situation a little bit better.
Laura: It makes me think. Yeah, I agree with you. He's a man that's struggling so, so hard with his own existence, with his mortality yeah. And putting his stamp on the world. And they have that conversation in the pub at one point. But I almost feel as though he knows Padrick so well that he almost had to be cruel at the beginning because it's like a puppy where you have to, I don't know, just kick it and make it hate you so that it just goes away and you don't have to worry about it anymore. Just rip uh, off the bandaid.
Ryan: Well, you find out that obviously yeah, I mean, Podrick's obviously gonna he's going to react a certain way and we do find out kind of later on how he does react to certain things a certain way.
Laura: Because every time that calm, because nothing is coming from a mean spirited place or a place of harm or evil, he is just strictly focusing on himself and he just believes that he doesn't have time for any mundane chatter at this point in his life. And it is harsh and it is difficult. But every time that he's nice to Padrick, it just gives him hope that their friendship can survive, which just exacerbates the situation.
Ryan: It's definitely a scenario which is kind of born, uh, out of the simplicity of their lives. That's kind of where all the humor kind of comes from. It's very simple.
Laura: Breaking up with somebody and you'd still live with them. You think that there's hope and then you kind of get comfortable, maybe there is, and you fall into old routines, but then you realize that, no, this is broken. Mhm, and you can't really come back from it because that is it's your island and you do the same things, and you're going to keep doing the same things and running into each other, it's going to cause so much conflict.
Ryan: But the issue, let's say the fueling factor of what brings so much conflict into their relationship is that Calm's only doing this to Padrick. He's not doing it to anybody. Literally. He's the exact same person to everybody else on the island, other than just it rings in as like, he has singled him out as the one person who is holding him back in, uh, sad and it's heartbreaking. And I think I don't know, I think Colin Farrell does a fantastic job because it is very much rooted in, I guess, uh, the comedy elements I would kind of pull it from is like, you're Charlie Chaplin, like the orphan. That sort of level of, uh, comedy performance, I feel like. I think it's very good. And sadly, this is more a drama, which is a comedy, um, as opposed to being too much of a comedy.
Laura: Uh, yeah. Well, you couldn't just have this as a street drama. You'd want to jump off a cliff?
Ryan: No, it's far too dark. Um, but anyway, um, he's still interacting with everybody else. And again, he's watching Calm kind of continue to go about his normal life, like the things he would do, like going to the pub, being late at night and stuff like that. And he obviously starts hanging out with, uh, Dominic, which is obviously played by Barry Keegan. And obviously he is, I guess, character Dominic. He's definitely a source of comic relief. Ah, he's a bit of a fool. Um, but he's also incredibly naive. He's very innocent. Um, and also, ah, he's probably what you would refer to as the village idiot, effectively. But you get an understanding as to why that is the case.
Laura: Uh, trauma.
Ryan: It's all based in trauma. He is Kearney's son, uh, the cop. Yeah. Um, but what you kind of find out is like kind of deep seated and stuff. Like he's being abused and beaten by, uh, his cop father. Who'd have thought? Um, certainly, yeah. Um, ah, he's not having a fantastic time.
Laura: He's also the one that's telling it like it is all the time. He's just very plain and he just sees everything as it is and takes everything at its word and kind of guides us through a little bit. Why is Colm being like this? This is stupid.
Ryan: Because I kind of took him and his character a little bit more like in the Shakespearean sense. Like, if this is an ensemble drama and you're playing it on a stage, um, he's kind of like, uh, in Midsummer Night's Dream. He's like puck. He's like a kind of expositionary character who kind of helps you kind of lead you in with a little bit more humor and stuff like that. But they're sitting in the pub and they're looking at all going I think Barry had a couple of fantastic lines where he's just, like, talking about the women that are there because there doesn't seem to be a lot of women there whatsoever.
Laura: There's women here. Oh, good ones, too.
Ryan: Yeah. We can get with our small talk. He know. And then he starts shouting at columns, like saying, play something, Dancy.
Laura: Yeah. Because, uh, colm's m sitting there playing the fiddle. Did you know that Papa Gleason is a skilled Fiddleman? I mean, I guess you could guess because he was playing the fiddle in.
Ryan: The oh, is he actually playing the fiddle?
Laura: He sure is.
Ryan: All right. Okay.
Laura: Yeah. He's played the fiddle in several huh.
Ryan: Huh. Okay. Well, there you go, then. I mean, the only other thing I was going to say before we move on to the dick scene is that it must be an absolute nightmare trying to get laid there.
Laura: Yeah. Small island life.
Ryan: Probably a lot of wanking happening.
Laura: And.
Ryan: Here we are.
Laura: Here we are.
Ryan: So for whatever reason right. This is the dick scene. For whatever reason, dominic takes Padrick back to his house, where obviously his father right. And, um, we find out why.
Laura: I mean, they want to get a drink, but they don't want to be in the pub.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And he knows that Garda daddy has booze. It looked like moonshine or something in a bottle.
Ryan: Yeah. It's kind of like nondescript alcohol.
Laura: Yeah. So they walk in together. They're being very quiet and tiptoeing. But as soon as they walk in, you see Dominic's father, Papa Garda, in a chair with his policeman's cap on, completely naked.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Just with one single beam of moonlight illuminating his naked body.
Ryan: Yeah. It is a sight to behold, but we're also kind of seeing it from the perspective, uh, of Podrick, who's just got a look on his face okay. To the point where it feels like even without having to say it, it does beg a little bit of explanation. But Dominic does give the explanation, which is, um, he'll kill us if we wake him. When he's been like he just shakes his head as if just like right, okay. So they creep over, they get the bottle of, uh, nondescript alcoholic liquid, and they leave, uh, naked police daddy, uh, in his chair.
Laura: It makes you think, how did he dominic has probably seen this 1 million times, which is so foul. But it's just an interesting way of going about the wanking process to where this man apparently needs to be completely nude. No socks, no clothes, no nothing. And just his hat on his head.
Ryan: And Dominic also knows that if he did try, like, if he did wake him, he will get angry.
Laura: Yeah. Well, he'll beat the shit out of him.
Ryan: And we do find out ah, that he does beat the crap out of him after, uh, he finds out that the alcohol was gone. Dominic already knows that's what's. Going to happen as a result of them uh, taking the booze anyway.
Laura: Yeah. I assume this wasn't the first time that that's happened. But I think it's no, their Podrick and Dominic's relationship, I think sure they've known each other forever. But them hanging out I think is pretty new. Hanging out solo. Because Podrick's always been with calm.
Ryan: Yeah. Well certainly I think Dominic's now beginning to kind of bury his soul a little bit. Um, where he's not probably the biggest fan of his father. He goes on about um I mean if this is to give any sort of reference because usually we don't talk about what the dicks look like. But Dominic goes like oh the tiny brown cock on him. Um uh, with disgust he says absolute vehement, uh, hatred for uh his horrible dad. But his dad is a horrible fucking piece of shit. And uh yeah, we do find out kind of how that ends up eventually as well.
Laura: So this dick scene comes in really early in the film. So about 14 minutes and 40 seconds.
Ryan: Ish yeah, the film is about 2 hours long, right?
Laura: A uh beautiful 2 hours. But yeah, this happens really early and this is the only time that that occurs. But it's just an interesting you see the whole town. You see everyone and your cast of characters. But this is definitely a weird kind of tiptoeing little secret that Podrick gets let in on. Just the first bit of information about this garda cop that no one else knows.
Ryan: No.
Laura: So it's kind of him peeking into the secret life of this guy who he already doesn't like who's never been nice to know. He mentions that he sees him on walks and he always says hello and he just ignores him.
Ryan: Well, Kearney also smacks Padrick later on as well. Um, they end up in a fight.
Laura: Yeah. Well because when they go to the kind of the post office, right, the general store and the woman's asking for news and he doesn't have any, he gets pissed off. And the guard is standing right next to him and he goes well did you know that he beats his son up?
Ryan: Oh yeah.
Laura: And is that at the same time where he's like he also fiddles his son? Did you know that? No. He says that at the pub later on. I don't think he says it now. But he just says he beats up his son. And she's like that's not news. That's shit news.
Ryan: No dear. Yeah.
Laura: And then that's when the cop goes out and then punches him in the.
Ryan: Um kearney's a horrible bastard. Um, he's a very nasty man. That's not really the crux of the story though. I mean effectively obviously not to kind of dwell too much on it. And also I feel like it's a film that needs to be experienced rather than explained.
Laura: Um, hopefully you've experienced already because otherwise.
Ryan: Shit'S going to go down. Yeah.
Laura: Um, which is what we always do.
Ryan: Because the thing is, when the shit does go down, it goes down, you know what I mean? Um, so effectively, calm threatens Padrick, who effectively will not take no for an. So like, immediately, it's like it was April Fools. That's why you're doing it. You're trying to trick me to it just being like, well, look, you're just obviously a grumpy bastard. You are my friend. You're going to continue to be my friend. And it continues on that way up until the point where Carl has to literally threaten him with taking off his own fingers for him to just leave him alone and to give him peace. And obviously Siobhan gets involved as well and has to talk to him because she's just, like, trying to wrangle what looks like obviously a couple of pubescent boys who are arguing with each other.
Laura: Yeah. Because she has her life that she's living as well. And this disrupts her in a fantastic way to where she can't live her life normally, like she usually does, because she's got to deal with Patrick, who's so upset. And now he's home all the time.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And she's like, aren't you going to go? You know, that must be annoying. But it's an interesting thing to say that as a fiddle player and as a man who wants this piece so that he can create so that he can write music and create songs, uh, and get his creative output going, he needs this time to threaten to cut off his fingers that he needs in order to create this music. So it's an interesting sort of choice.
Ryan: His intentions are true. I feel like they are for himself. They're true for himself. But they're also seated in a lot of antiquity, as in, like, he starts talking about the old greats. And then also at this point, even Podrick, who's obviously not the most intelligent man, is still able to kind of be like, well, that's seemingly not the case. Um, um, it's like he just wants something that he wants to be remembered by because their small chats and their talks will not be remembered. They're lacking of importance. But, uh, I mean, it eventually gets to the point where some fingers have to be taken off.
Laura: Laura it is a profound act of violence against the self. It is genuinely.
Ryan: Mean. This man just goes around with a bleeding hand. Like, he doesn't really even bother to cover it up that much.
Laura: I think that was another thing that I found, uh, so shocking is that he doesn't clean his hand. He is at home. It was like a big pair of shears.
Ryan: Uh, yeah, sheep shears, basically, his finger off.
Laura: And he said he almost passed out while doing it. But now it doesn't hurt anymore. It's totally fine after all the excitement. But he chops it off, doesn't wrap it.
Ryan: I love that bit where he's protected yeah, uh, I love the bit where he's like, talking to Siobhan and he's just like, didn't think it was going to clear up today, but it has. It's very pleasant.
Laura: Well, his finger, he's looking at the.
Ryan: Window while his fingers just actively bleeding all over the, y'all such a nice day. Well, the thing is, what kind of happens is that Siobhan and Patrick are just sitting they're sitting at home, then they hear a thing at the door and they're like, someone's at the door and they look at the door and it's blood stained. And then they look away and they're like, oh, wait. And then he picks up a finger and then brings in and Siobhan's like, was it a bird? And it's no, no. And he opens his hand up and it's just this bloody finger.
Laura: The scream that comes out of her mouth. I loved and I also love that she goes, Throw it out. And he goes, no, I'm not going to throw it out. It'll get dirty. Look at dirt all over it. Um, but it's indicative of his state of mind, of home, at least, where just like we were saying, he doesn't even clean it up. He cuts that motherfucker off his hand and just immediately walks over to his house and just chucks it at the door. And has no regard for his own self obviously has no regard for his own self preservation because he's mutilating his body in order to prove a point. And very extreme. Yes, very extreme indeed.
Ryan: Yeah. This is a film that goes from one extreme to the other. And yeah, just Padrick won't just let it go. And as a result of not letting it go, he cuts off all of the fingers on his left hand, every single one. And while they're away, Siobhan and Podrick, they're away doing whatever. He's then chucking four fingers at their door.
Laura: I think it got to the point where Podrick found out that Calm had been he finally finished writing his beautiful opus, which of course, is the titular line of the film that he gets to spout, which I adore. Titular line. And he finally finished it and he's like, Is it good? Great. And they had a lovely chat, the two friends, which is another, which is just coming back to what I said earlier, is that every single time that Colm gives him an inch, Podrick takes a yeah, he's like, oh, I've got him back. I'm so happy to have my friend back. Everything's going to come back to normal. He's like, we'll meet you down at the pub. It's going to be lovely. And yeah, I think that was when he was down at the pub waiting. That's when all those fingers go at his door. And it's this horrible cycle.
Ryan: It's a horrible cycle, but it's kind of also like Podrick, uh, also he is not aware of the invisible social boundary that Calm has just enforced so he's not actually capable of, uh, either being able to win his trust back or just win his friendship back. And for him, it should be relatively quite simple. Simple man, simple island living. But for him, this is a very complex emotional situation that I don't feel like he is capable of dealing, uh, with in any way, shape or form. Um, which is nice when you have, I guess, this very kind of personal conflict going on, which is then offset to a very real world, uh, conflict that's just happening just across the water, which I think is a fantastic metaphor for what's going on here. But, uh, the thing is, he throws the rest of his fingers, right? He's got this fucking bloody stump, right?
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Ryan: And I love the bit where we see him in the pub and they're all playing and the table splattered with blood and all of his notes and his papers and stuff. Because he's just like, we're going to play my opus. We're going to play the banshees. And it's just him holding his bloody fiddle in his remaining hand. And he's got this fucking stump that's just spraying blood everywhere. And the rest musicians are just like, what the fuck is going on? I loved it so much. But the thing is with him throwing with throwing the last fingers at the door. So there's this donkey, right?
Laura: Sweet donkey.
Ryan: Oh, no. Uh, hold up. We'll bring it up after we bring up this moment because we're fucking sick of like, donkey cruelty.
Ryan: That's one thing that unfortunately, Oscars has this year.
Laura: It's the year of the Donkey.
Ryan: It's the year of the brutalization of a donkey. And, um, we watched a film called EO. It's a Polish European, uh, film. Is it Polish Italian? Yeah. Okay. So it's Polish Italian called EO. It's just spelled eno. And it's basically about a donkey.
Laura: It's like Home through the donkey's eyes.
Ryan: It's like Homeward Bound, except it's like if, uh, Julia Dicerno made this kind of psychedelic homeward, uh, bound film. It's not Julia Dicarno because I feel like she's got a little bit more class than this director. Effectively, it's basically watching the brutalization of a donkey for 88 minutes. And it makes you very upset. It's got a terrible fucking ending. And, uh, uh, it's just a horrible piece of filmmaking just in general. Looks lovely, but it's completely fruitless.
Laura: Yeah. My review of that was, do we need this? Right after we lost Jenny.
Ryan: Now, Jenny is the lovely she's like a dwarf donkey. She's like a miniature donkey.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: Um, so she's this tiny little thing. And she's the sort of thing that literally you can have her on your knee. She's like a big dog, right? Very sweet. She's got a little bell on her bow. So you know where she is. Um, and obviously the rest of the animals are quite fond of her because he's got like a workhorse. Let's just say like a Shetland, like a Shetland horse. Like a full sized horse who's like tied to the cart and stuff. So obviously the little donkey and the horse get on and obviously the cows and stuff, they all get on together.
Laura: They're all best friends.
Ryan: They're all best friends. They're all very aware. Um and this poor fucking donkey, poor donkey ends up choking on the fingers that, uh, Colm has thrown on the yes, obviously Jenny's not the brightest of animals, but she's ended up choking on his fingers. And this is effectively the final straw.
Laura: Did you know that Jenny the donkey was not a show donkey? She'd never been in show business before. But because of that she would get nervous. And so they had a support donkey named Rosie who would come in when Jenny was getting nervous.
Ryan: Oh, fantastic.
Laura: She just had like a little friend and would calm her down.
Ryan: I think. Um, I love that there's little moments in the movie because obviously a lot of the humor just comes from just how, I guess, peculiar some of the things are that happen on the island. And obviously to them it's all very kind of normal, commonplace stuff.
Laura: Just how they speak. Just, I mean the dialogue in and of itself is very funny.
Ryan: It's such a really well written film and the characters are really well built out. But I do like moments where just oh, uh, jenny's just comes into the house and Siobhan doesn't really like Jenny that much. He doesn't think the animals should be in the house. But obviously, uh, Podrick has different other ideas because obviously he's very fond of Jenny.
Laura: I'm not putting my donkey outside when I'm sad.
Ryan: No.
Laura: He says.
Ryan: All we've done this week has been supporting the donkeys to the point where we're like, we'll have a donkey, we'll get a donkey. We'll just get a donkey.
Laura: A rescue donkey.
Ryan: I don't know if you can have donkeys in Florida. I think it's too warm for the donkey.
Laura: We'll make an air conditioned barn. I don't care.
Ryan: Okay, well, either way, save the donkeys. Yeah. I mean, there's donkeys. Yeah. I don't know.
Ryan: We find all sorts of things about the poor fucking donkeys watching that bloody movie. And obviously if you're in the UK, you see uh, videos, uh, and adverts for the donkey sanctuary all the fucking time as well. So obviously you're being guiltied into liking the donkeys. But I don't think donkeys have ever done anything wrong. I think donkeys are, uh other than obviously at Blackpool, like Blackpool Beach and stuff like that, which I think they've stopped. They don't do donkey rides and stuff anymore. I don't think they have that. I think they scrapped it all.
Laura: Donkeys just need carrots and love.
Ryan: They do need carrots and they also need love. But, uh yeah, I like a donkey. There's nothing wrong with a good old donkey. Um yeah.
Laura: This donkey dies.
Ryan: Donkey's done nothing yeah. Well, the donkey fucking dies. And obviously now gone it's gone a little bit mental. This straw has been cut.
Laura: It's in conjunction with the fact that his sister, Siobhan, um, I don't know if the impetus for her leaving was the conflict kind of going on at home with her brother and stuff, or if she was just really ready to follow her dreams. Um, but she got a job offer on the mainland and she's just decided, I'm leaving. And she wants her brother to come with her. But he is just a hometown boy and he knows what he knows. And he's supported by his animals that know essentially his friends at this point. But now Siobhan is gone. Jenny has died because of choking on a finger. So, uh, he's gone off the rails.
Ryan: Well, because Siobhan's not there. There's no voice of reason.
Laura: Yeah, she's the only voice of reason on the whole island.
Ryan: Basically. This is where the boys are left to run wild. And effectively, with the donkey dying was the last finger that choked the donkey's throat.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: So he sets fire to Colm's house with him in it.
Laura: With him in it. Uh, he does save the dog, uh, so the dog wouldn't be hurt.
Ryan: A dog's a lovely old English sheepdog. Like a, uh, really lovely old English sheepdog.
Laura: I think that everyone had problems with the animals on the set, where apparently the dog bit Papa Gleason at one point. And then the donkey was the biggest diva out of and the donkey's name also in real life is Jenny. So she would hear her cues.
Ryan: Um, they didn't want to confuse her. I love that. That's great. Yeah. Sounds like actually it's a lot of fun. I mean, they do say don't work.
Laura: With, uh, kids and animals.
Ryan: Kids and animals. But I don't know, people continue to do it. So I don't know.
Laura: I think it's so great. I mean, it ends in a slightly ambiguous manner, but it kind of makes you feel as though I don't know. I don't know if this is over.
Ryan: Um, I feel like the problem is that because of the extremes that they both ended up resorting to, at least with the burning down of his house and obviously unfortunately, Dominic is found dead in a body of water.
Laura: Yeah, I think, um, and it's in the same spot where he had been speaking to Siobhan earlier in the film and basically asking her if there was any way that she could love someone like him. And she no.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: No, there's no way. And what did he say? Uh, that's that dream gone, something like that?
Ryan: Um, yeah, it's pretty funny. But to be fair, um, yeah, I mean, it's pretty funny.
Laura: He's?
Ryan: Tragic, to be fair, obviously, with Dominic dead, um, you would hope that that at least kind of mellows the behavior that had been happening with the cultural institutions that are also part of the island. Then obviously, the crux of the story, which is obviously the friendship, um, between the two main characters, is that the boundary has been set at least within, I guess, a civil grounding, effectively. So, like, look, we're drawing a line quite literally in the sand because they have this conversation while they're on the beach. Um, ah, there is a mutual understanding at that point, so that even then, the Civil War is brought up at that point, where they're like, oh, well, um, we've, uh, not heard any gunfire in the last kind of few days. Hopefully it's kind of settling down. And then Podrick also kind of brings up the fact that sometimes some things like that, they're not supposed to end, which is also a kind of very dark foreshadowing of obviously the Irish history that does obviously end up kind of rearing its head kind of further down the line into the course of the century anyway. But obviously it's more kind of reflected upon the atrocities that they've both committed to each other, um, over the course of their friendship. Which I just feel like it's a very cleverly written moment. And it's a nice kind of closer for the movie, um, because it's nice isn't that it takes the main theme of the movie, wraps it up nice and well. It has, obviously the metaphor of obviously being set against the Irish Civil War of the early 1920s.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: Um, I just think it's very smart writing and it'll probably get the best screenplay Oscar, absolutely. Just probably purely on that basis. But if that does happen, unfortunately, it probably won't get best film, so it can only win one or the other. And certainly I didn't like a film that's fucking surrounded, that's basically a fucking centerpiece or an everything bagel. Give me a fucking break.
Laura: But you get to see the darkness and the sadness kind of from both sides of the conflict. No one is a villain here. You can feel for every single person that's involved. It's very kind of down to earth. I feel like a lot of us have had these type of feelings where you're trying to move on with your life and maybe things are hindering you. You're looking and wondering about your own mortality and things like that. It's a struggle, because as much as.
Ryan: It'S absurd, it's incredibly grounded, I would say, overall, which is why it's relatable to a certain degree. Yeah, it's just a good, solid film. It's a good, solid film with a good story and good acting. And it looks nice.
Laura: So this is Colin Farrell's third film with, uh, which, you know, we're in Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. It's his third film with Barry Keegan because they were in Killing of a Sacred Deer together. And the Batman.
Ryan: Yeah, I played the penguin.
Laura: And I don't know if this is their second film together, but I know that Colin Farrell and Papa Gleason work together on, uh, hold on.
Ryan: I mean, yeah, the Batman's definitely a thing, but the Barry Keegan stuff isn't actually in the release of the movie. So I don't know if that's well.
Laura: They'Re in the same film together.
Ryan: They are technically in the same film together. But also we would never have known that Barry Keegan had anything to do with the Batman unless they released that deleted scene stuff early.
Laura: Okay, so this Colin Farrell has been in three films with Barry Keegan. Does that work? Yeah, they have been in three of the same motion pictures.
Ryan: Well, I'm not going to moan.
Laura: Uh, publicly since also worked. This is his third film with McDonough as well, including Six Shooter.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: So, uh, McDonough, uh, said that he wanted to work with the boys again because it's been 14 years since in Bruges.
Laura: I'm sure we're familiar with the accolades. There are a ton. This film is nominated for so many awards at every major awards function and every minor awards function. Um, Academy Awards? It's Nominated For Best Picture Director. Uh, Colin Farrell. Uh, For Best Actor supporting Actors For Papa Gleason. And Barry Keegan, supporting actress for Carrie Conden. Original, um, screenplay, editing, and score. Um, it's nominated for the exact same things that The BAFT does. It premiered at Venice. This film is, um, going to rain down gold.
Ryan: I hope so. I hope so. I like it when good films win. I like it when the things that I like win.
Laura: Well, when you think about the films that have won best film and rewatch value, I think, is not necessarily important when you're making a film. Uh, not every film has rewatch value.
Ryan: This one, certainly most films don't have rewatch value. It's all very subjective. So I guess, for example, we brought up under siege. That is someone's favorite film of all time. And they will watch it 20 times a year. That's perfectly fine. Same as everything, everywhere, all at once is someone's favorite film. They will watch it 20 times. Um, so really, I find that to kind of be very subjective. So when I say things like, oh, I think most films are relatively don't, uh, have a rewatch value, is that because they've got a very select number of films that I will watch constantly over and over and over again. So I think it's very much a.
Laura: Personal thing, of course, but for me it does. I like it. I could see this being purchased and being on the shelf.
Ryan: It's just a quality piece of filmmaking.
Laura: It's weirdly comforting as well, at times. There's just something about the cinematography, uh, how it looks.
Ryan: Yeah, it looks nice.
Laura: I know Martin McDonough was know, I don't think a lot of films really capture the beauty of Ireland. And I'm like, have you not seen Leap Year starring Adams?
Ryan: Hmm.
Laura: M that's a joke. I don't think you've seen that. I think some people out there have as a rom.com.
Ryan: I think this is when we wrap it up. I'm just saying, guys, she just brought up leap year. Let's just wrap this up. Yeah.
Laura: Oh, I think I had one more thing to talk about. Um oh, god. Where is it? It's talking about where they filmed it. So they filmed, ah, part of this movie on Innishmore, and then another kind of the end of it on Hill Island, which is they're both on the west coast of Ireland. But they wanted to put, um, Podrick's house on Innishmore because it's a little bit more level, it's more flat, it's more calm. And then Colm's House, they built, um, well, they found the house on HL Island. And it's a little bit more rocky, a little bit more of a tumultuous landscape, just to kind of give that dichotomy between the two.
Ryan: That's pretty.
Laura: And then, you know, they made it look like it was the same place.
Laura: But anyway, so why don't you go ahead and start and give me your visibility and context rating.
Ryan: Ryan oh, so I gave the visibility and context like a three and a half to four. Probably give it three and a half. It's also pretty dark, so you can't see that much. And also it's for the nature of what it is. But I don't know. Do we call it a comedy penis? The only reason it's funny because other than that it would be fucking shocking is the only reason is like, if you don't find the idea of this policeman sitting there naked, uh, having a wee wank, then you're going to find this moment quite shocking because it is a kind of in your face sort of moment. But for me, I thought it was fucking hilarious. That's something that because there's quite a wistful, melancholic feeling that I get from watching this movie because certainly it reminds me a lot of the kind of, I guess the standard of humor in, um yeah, the humor really hits home for me in this movie because of how fucking bleak and dark it is. And, um, I think that's something that's obviously reached over into the other nation, obviously in Scotland as well. Um, a Celtic connection. But, um, yeah, certainly. Ah, I think this scene is great just out of the pure humor that I get out of it. It is easily one of the funniest things. And it is basically nailed home because of Barry Kearigan's character. And that one line that he says. It's fucking hilarious.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: And this is obviously something that happens a lot.
Laura: Yeah, he's seen that wiener a lot, unfortunately.
Ryan: So good. So fucking funny.
Laura: Uh, for me, I'm going to give it a three. It is dark. Yes, in context and in lighting. So I know that we saw it in the theater, but I totally forgot about it. Um, I don't know if I was just really kind of focused on the film and I didn't notice it, but it didn't stick out to me as a memorable full frontal moment. But I do think that it's amusing how it's lit, how they're standing there. The comments that happen in the film while it's occurring is very, very funny. In categorizing it as a comedy, penis is tough. Um, I think it's also a contextual penis in order to show you kind of the life that Dominic has been living, uh, which is tragic and horrible.
Ryan: Yeah. But if you're not into that darkly black humor, then if you don't find this m moment m funny, then certainly it's going to have a different kind of contextual interest.
Laura: Of course. Yeah. I mean, that's Irish humor. I love it. I thought it was great. So I'm going to give it three just because it was quite dark. Good.
Laura: But how about your film rating? I already know what it is.
Ryan: Oh, I gave it a five. I originally gave it, like, a four. I dropped it down from a five when I originally saw it, and I was like but usually a lot of the films that I end up really, really liking end up getting rated lower, and then I rate them higher as time goes on. So I gave it a five.
Laura: Yeah. I, um, think I had it as a four at first, just because it was so intense. When we saw it in theater, it was just a lot to take in. But watching it again, I gave it a four and a half.
Ryan: It doesn't really have a missed moment. There's not a dull moment in the movie. No, it's pretty much spot on.
Laura: It's basically a five. I don't know, I'm just kind of sitting on it for a minute.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: But I think this film is wonderful.
Ryan: Yeah, it's really good.
Laura: Genuinely, uh, great.
Ryan: It's one of the shining lights in the, let's say, uh, the very kind of m mediocre, uh, peaks and very much big troughs, uh, selection of award nominees this year, I feel like.
Laura: Yeah. Guys should watch it.
Ryan: Yes. You should go see it. You should support it. I don't think it needs any more support than I got. I think people already know it's pretty good.
Laura: Um, guys, well, thank you. I'm so glad to have you back. It's great.
Ryan: It's not like I kind of left. I still know. I'm just bringing on the last one.
Laura: I didn't really say anything. I didn't really miss you or anything.
Ryan: Oh, well, thank you very much.
Laura: Uh oh, boy. Are we going to fight? Are we going to have a row? Are we rowing?
Ryan: Maybe you won't know. Maybe you'll just find out later on further down the line or something.
Laura: Yikes.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Well, coming to you from I think it was like was it John Joe's? I don't remember what they called the pub, but it was called JJ. Devine's public house.
Ryan: Oh, uh, okay.
Laura: Coming to you from pub, I've been Laura.
Ryan: I'm Ryan.
Laura: Thank you. Guys. I hope we're still friends after this.
Ryan: Uh, we'll see.