The Banshees of Inisherin

 I understand why Colin Farrel got a Volpi Cup for Best Actor. His character is kind and gentle childlike man, living with his sister and stock of a cow, horse and donkey Jenny. His best friend, portrayed by Brandon Gleeson, stops talking to him eventually telling him - it's because he is dull and he, his friend, doesn't want to spend his time on dullness anymore. He plays the violin and wants to create something in art to leave his mark in history just as Mozart did. That made me think of this mind vs heart dichotomy, expressed by Dostoevsky in his 'Idiot' novel: “I am a fool with a heart but no brains, and you are a fool with brains but no heart; and we’re both unhappy, and we both suffer.” 

Colin and Brandon's characters are placed on one of the Irish islands in 1923. The Irish folklore is always lurking here and there mostly expressed by the recurring old lady, personification of Banshees, mystically appearing everywhere the death is and predicting when the next happens. The feeling of an unhappy ending is there all over the island from the beginning, the same way there is a bottomless sea one step from the island's edge. After Banshee predicts 'one or maybe two deaths', you don't want the inevitable to happen. Someone does die. But it's hard to call the film a drama or tragedy.  It's an extremely rare successful combination of comedy embedded in a very sad turn of events. I guess, all credit for this goes to Colin's eyebrows :). His comedian talent probably first drew audience's attention in 'In Brugges' with same Brendan Gleeson and by same director Martin McDonagh. Definitely, recommended to watch 'In Brugges' first, one might say there is a very interesting development of Colin and Brandon's characters from 'In Brugges' into those in 'Banshees of Inisherin'. (to be finished, want to rewatch, mush left unclear).