It was a banner year for Irish cinema at the Golden Globes last night. The Banshees of Inisherin took home awards for Best Director, Best Comedy, and Best Actor — the latest in a string of award season wins. You’d think an award-winning movie written by an Irishman, starring an entirely Irish cast, and filmed in Ireland, would be a particular point of national pride. But no culture is a monolith and some citizens of the Republic are questioning whether the movie is all that it’s cracked up to be after all.
In a post on the Reddit r/Ireland page, a user questions whether or not the award-winning script deserves all the fuss. Despite praising the film’s look and the acting of the cast they categorize the screenplay as “the usual Irish gob****tery.” Not exactly an Irish blessing.
Of course, the post soon drew in a mass of comments with many praising the film and explaining to the OP just what they could do with their opinion. And of course, there were some supporting the original notion.
Most of the naysayers seemed to be in accord with one opinion — the film had been overhyped to them, understandably leading to a bit of a letdown, especially to those who were expecting something along the same lines as McDonagh, Gleeson, and Farrell’s previous effort, In Bruges. Others seemed to share the OP’s opinion that the film was far too quaint, playing into common stereotypes about the rural Irish.
Others felt that other people deserved more credit such as supporting actors Barry Keoghan and (of course) Jenny the Donkey (McDonagh and Farrell did thank her in their acceptance speeches).
That said, the thread did have its fair share of supporters of the movie, many of who felt it rose above any ideas of quaintness.
One user admitted that the film held up even better when watched a second time saying that another watch made them understand the buzz around the film.
One particular comment deserves to be singled out. u/michaelirishred witheringly joked that “most of us” would prefer an MCU movie based on an Irish superhero. (I regret to inform you that the two Irish superheroes in marvel comics are The Banshee — who is not a woman — and ‘sigh” Shamrock … because of course that’s their name.)