Trailer for the movie "Ghosts of Inishreen" (Film Forum)
Star rating for movies - 5 stars (photo: photo processing, .)
After breaking out as a playwright and winning the Oscar for best short film, the British-Irish creator Martin McDonagh directed his first feature-length film in 2007, Bruges.
It was set in the Belgian city of its name, featured Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in the lead roles, and turned out to be a gem.
About a decade later, the creator wrote and directed another wonderful, talked about and celebrated film, "Three Signs Outside Ebbing, Missouri", which took place in the United States and was the stage for unforgettable acting performances by American actors, led by Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell.
Now, he returns to join forces with the Irish Farrell and Gleeson in "Inishreen Spirits", which comes out this weekend with nine Oscar nominations under his belt, including in all the main categories, and he is a leading candidate to win several of them.
"Bruges" starring the same actors was a contemporary film that took place in a real place, and not just any place - but one of the most charming bonbonnieres in Europe.
"Ghosts of Inishreen" is a period film, which takes place in 1923, against the background of the civil war in Ireland, but was also filmed in one of the most magical coves on the classic continent - the Aran Islands off the coast of the divided country.
As a kind of cinematic travel agent, McDonagh has good taste: he always knows how to choose exciting destinations.
How do you end a platonic relationship?
From "Ghosts of Inishrin" (Photo: Forum Film)
If you want to go on a trip after watching, know that Inishreen is a fictitious island - a fusion of three small islands that McDonagh knew in his childhood and returned to shoot the film.
Their views are spectacular, and the big screen brings out the best in them.
The director also does a wonderful job of placing his heroes in them, and uses the position of the small man against the great nature to reflect feelings such as loneliness, alienation and despair.
The sky here is not innocent either - it reflects the evils of the north to the characters.
The scenes in the film are as spectacular as a painting, but in the end they are only a basis for the story, from which McDonagh also makes the most of it.
On the face of it, this movie has one of the humblest scripts of the current awards season.
It has no stories about parallel worlds, nor an autobiography or a biography of a great artist, but a simple story about simple people.
These are Colm, played by Gleeson, and Padreic, played by Farrell.
The two live in Innsreen, which turns out to be as boring an island as it is beautiful, and don't do much except sit in a pub, drink and talk.
Paderic is responsible for most of the talking - he is a tireless chatterbox, and one day Colum gets tired of it.
He informs his old friend that the relationship is over.
Their friendship has exhausted itself for him, and it is better for him to devote the time that was wasted on her to more meaningful things, for example writing music.
It's a shame that there is no Oscar for the best Athens.
From "Ghosts of Inishrin" (Photo: Forum Film)
On the face of it, this is a comical situation.
In our social dynamics, it is customary to end romantic relationships and there are also norms on how to do this, but how do you end a platonic relationship?
Everyone knows how to break up with a spouse, but no one knows how to break up with a friend, even though on the face of it it's a less binding relationship, and "Seinfeld" already based one of its first and underappreciated episodes on this irony.
On paper, it's also an absurd development: Paderic hasn't done anything bad to Colem, so it's not clear what happened to him one fine day and why this separation is so important to him.
All this could have taken the script to amusing places, but McDonagh plays with the conventions wisely, turning in a violent and dark direction.
Paderic insists on continuing to talk to Colem, who gives him an ultimatum: if he continues to bully him, he will cut off his own finger, and then another finger.
The threat seems blown out of proportion, but to his horror, their voice realizes him, and begins to corrupt his body.
Paderic, for his part, was the most naive person on the island, but following the actions of his friend, he gradually loses his innocence, and is also swept into the cycle of violence.
Early on, it becomes clear that this particular story is an allegory for something wider, the Irish Civil War, and for something even wider - the casual and unnecessary conflicts that have been leading to bloody wars for years.
In the spirit of the times, the script attributes all these to the nature of the male sex.
Padraic's sister, played by Carrie Condon, cries out in one of the climactic moments against all those unbearably boring men who are constantly arguing over trifles, as she says.
The voice of reason.
From "Ghosts of Inishrin" (Photo: Forum Film)
"Ghosts of Inishrin" is structured like an action, in which everyone has a defined role.
Frederick's sister is the voice of reason.
The boy who follows him, played by Barry Keogan who already starred alongside Farrell in "Kill a Holy Reindeer", is the village fool.
Befitting the scenes, there are also some animals, and following the trend of donkeys we have seen this year in cinema, the most prominent of which is Aton the dwarf, which leads to a significant turning point.
Beside all of this walks a knowledgeable and mysterious old woman, who calmly informs the characters and us of the good news of Job: as much as this story sounds like an eccentric curiosity, a joke about two drunken Irishmen who left the bar, it cannot have a happy ending.
Everyone who plays these characters does a wonderful job.
There are four main actors in the film - Gleeson, Farrell, Condon and Keogan.
Unusually, each of them is nominated for an Oscar, and if there was a statuette for the best Athens, she would be nominated too.
Everyone here also deserves an award.
Ghosts of Inshreen is also a stage for some of today's best craftsmen, who put on the best performances of their careers.
McDonagh initially gives the players a lot of meat to work with.
His script is incredibly specific and manages to give a sense of time and place, but is also deep and abstract enough to deal with universal issues.
There is sorrow and anguish in it, and we constantly feel the burden on the shoulders of the heroes, but the witty dialogues provide quite a few comic sighs and moments that make me smile, even if it is a sad smile.
"Ghosts of Inishreen" is a film full of events, uniform in its level, superbly made and free of unnecessary fat and self-importance, which sweeps and activates the audience.
Because of all this and despite the dark elements in it, it is also very enjoyable to watch.
Of all the notable names of the awards season, this is perhaps the only film I would not hesitate to recommend without any reservations.
In a rare way these days, McDonagh repeatedly manages to concoct quality yet communicative works.
Very enjoyable to watch.
From "Ghosts of Inishrin" (Photo: Forum Film)
Aside from the spills in the film's favor, there are two common claims against it that deserve attention.
One - Irish journalists and viewers claimed that he is a caricature that commits to all the clichés about their people, portraying them as drunken idlers and the like.
There is something in this, but there is also much more to the film than that.
In any case, McDonagh set the film in Ireland because it is his favorite, but it is not the center of the plot but only a basis for discussing men and conflicts of any kind.
The second claim is that the violence in it is for nothing.
Of all the things the hero could do, why would he cut off his own fingers?
This koblana did not flow to me - and why would Juan Gogh cut off his own ear?
"Free" is the whole point here, because the script deals with the inner emptiness that leads people to external destruction, at the end of which there really is nothing left.
"Ghosts of Inishreen" is a huge film about the unbearable banality of existence.
culture
Theater
film review
Tags
Colin Farrell
Oscar
Ireland
Martin McDonagh
