In this high-speed modern age, it’s hard to recall a time when much of the country was nearly inaccessible. No airports or interstate “super-highway” systems existed, just a little over a hundred years ago. Well, somebody had to “clear the way” for the ever-expanding US population as it headed west. So, what were these hard-toiling workers like, emotionally. What were their desires, and how did they carve out a life for themselves, and, eventually, their families? This new film, based on a recent celebrated literary work, tries to answer those questions as it focuses on one such man in the early part of the previous century. After several grueling hours of laying track, did he close his eyes, and drift away into a slumber filled with TRAIN DREAMS?
That laborer at the heart of this story is Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), who relates his humble beginnings as a young orphan arriving via train to Idaho in the late 19th century. Most of his early memories revolve around the railroad and the surrounding forests. He sees Chinese immigrant rail workers being driven out of town, and even gives a water-filled boot to a dying man near the bottom of a ravine. In his teenage years, he hops on to a locomotive that takes him far away from his adopted family, to Washington state. After a long stint as a logger, he settles in a small town and meets a lovely young woman at a church function. Robert and Gladys (Felicity Jones) begin a romance that culminates in marriage. They build a home near a stream on the edge of the woods far from their village. Robert is happy, but he’s haunted by dreams of an incident in which he failed to intervene in an attack on a Chinese co-worker. Soon the couple welcome a daughter, Kate. But Robert soon leaves once more, to work on the railway expansion hundreds of miles away. He keeps to himself, but befriends a colorful old explosives excavator named Arn (William H. Macy). When that job is completed, Robert rushes back to his cabin for a happy reunion. Sadly, fate has other plans. He must decide whether to drift from job to job or try to put down roots near the site of his great, heartbreaking loss.
In the lead role, Edgerton must make Robert compelling without reciting much dialogue. And he certainly succeeds, making his tired eyes a window into the stoic man’s soul. We can almost share his aches and pains as Robert toils to make a better life for his family. This gives an extra emotional wallop as Edgerton conveys his joy (falling in love, playing with Kate) to his sorrow (that tragedy and the horror of the work camps). Many of the most powerful moments are the scenes shared with Jones, whose Gladys is the bright, shining light in Robert’s dreary drudgery. It’s surprising to see her as the main catalyst to the relationship, catching him “off guard”. Jones’ beaming gaze at him informs us of her passion for the new life she has begun as wife and mother. Another terrific actress, Kerry Condon, also brightens Robert’s life as a new-found friend who begins a job at a nearby forest preserve. Their interplay is quite engaging, as she describes her own love of the solitude of nature. As is the case in his superb supporting work, Macy makes the most of his scant screen time as the lazy bur lovable “blaster” who makes Robert the “sounding board” for his philosophy, while generating laughs as he tinkers with faulty equipment (“Stand back, boy…aw, c’mon now!”).
With his sophomore feature, director Clint Bentley carefully crafts a somber saga of early American life in the West. He also co-wrote the screenplay adaptation of the Denis Johnson novella with Greg Kwedar, which eschews showy histrionics in order for Robert to tell his own story of love, loss, and regret. There’s a dream-like quality to the early scenes of young Robert collecting lifelong memories that will shape his later years. Adding to the dreamscape of the title, Bentley presents images and sequences that could be fantasy or fact, as Robert deals with his own fractured history. All this is enhanced by the rich, luminous cinematography of Adolpho Veloso (tough to go wrong with that lush scenery). For those film fans in need of a quiet, contemplative respite from the usual “rapid_fire”, bombastic movie fare, TRAIN DREAMS is cinema serenity.
3 Out of 4
TRAIN DREAMS streams exclusively on Netflix beginning on November 21, 2025
If you are looking for a perfect summer movie, F1 maybe your ticket. Little is more exciting to watch than F1 racing, even if you know nothing about the sport. F1 THE MOVIE stars Brad Pitt and delivers all the exciting race sequences your could want while also taking you inside that racing world, with footage shot at actual F1 races, in a taut, stylish action tale. Directed by Joseph Kosinki, who helmed TOP GUN: MAVERICK, F1 has all the excitement and thrills of that film but adds in a more polished visual style.
Race cars were born with automobiles themselves, and F1 is the highest-level, most exciting, and classiest form of auto racing, with custom-built and designed cars from the likes of Ferrari, and raced on courses built on streets of famous cities around the world. Movies have a strong tradition of F1 auto racing movies, with several thrilling classics like GRAND PRIX, RUSH and SENNA, and I confess I’ve been hooked on movies about F1 auto racing movies ever since seeing one as a kid. F1 is the elite, international level of auto racing, a whole different world from the Indy 500 and other NASCAR racing, which uses customized version of production cars and simple oval tracks. F1’s custom-build racing cars are designed for racing only, stripped down to the bare but high-powered racing essentials, and with races on twisty, complicated courses, calling for a different level of driving skill.
Filming at actual F1 races, with real drivers and figures from F1 in minor roles, and lead actors doing their own driving gives the film an authentic feel. Fans of F1 will get a charge out of the authenticity but there is no need to know anything about F1 to enjoy this summer-perfect, thrilling movie ride.
Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, who was once a promising F1 driver until a devastating accident cut his career short. Now, Sonny is a freelance driver, picking up race car assignments around the country and living in his RV. Still, Sonny is still has top driving skills, and coming off a win at the Indy 500, he turns down offers to join racing teams, preferring to maintain his wandering lifestyle. When an old teammate, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), who owns a struggling F1 team called Apex, drops in to recruit Sonny as a driver, Sonny reluctantly agrees to help his old friend. Ruben has a talented young driver with a bright future, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) but needs a more experienced driver to help him gain experience.
Pearce is a cocky hotshot from a British working-class immigrant background, and resents having Sonny or anyone else offering advice, so the two of them don’t hit it off. Pearce thinks of Sonny as a has-been or worse,, never-been, because of his short-circuited F1 career, while Hayes describes the young driver as arrogant, hot-headed and with a lot to learn, when talking to Ruben. “Just like you were,” Ruben responses.
Yet the two do find a way to work together as a team, and along with improvements by the team’s car designer, Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), things start to look up. Meanwhile, Ruben is under pressure from Apex’s board of directors, who are threatening to sell the company if Ruben’s team doesn’t start winning. Ruben’s ally on the board, (Tobias Menzies) keeps Ruben updated on what the board is doing.
The plot is classic Hollywood, the old hand and the young gun, but the script by Ehren Kruger adds plenty of twists and surprises to keep us guessing. Brad Pitt gives an excellent performance in this role as the elusive Sonny, looking good at 61 years old, fit but a bit craggy. His character is independent and crafty, laying down a strategy for winning but rarely sharing his plan with the rest of the team before hand. Sonny and designer Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), a former aerospace engineer and the only woman auto designer in F1, have romantic sparks as soon as they meet, but they are restrained by their own better professional and personal judgment. Still, that restraint erodes over time, unsurprisingly, and Pitt and Condon work well together, with a playful sexy chemistry in the love interest addition. Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem are fantastic in scenes together, with good supporting work from Damson Idris as the cocky young driver and Tobias Menzies as a smiling, slippery board member.
While Brad Pitt is great, the real star of this show are the racing sequences, which are brilliantly done and thrilling to watch. The action photography by Claudio Miranda is stylish, and the races, which are gripping and even a bit frightening, are further elevated by Hans Zimmer’s score. Both Pitt and Idris did their own driving for the film, and many scenes were shot at actual F1 races and with real F1 drivers making appearances, and with the cooperation of the F1 sporting organization.
It all adds up. F1 is a perfect summer movie, a thrilling tale set in an exciting world of high-octane racing, with top-rate action, fine photography and polished production values, and a first-rate cast in a classic Hollywood tale.
Check out the first teaser trailer for F1 starring Brad Pitt. F1 will be distributed in theaters around the world and in IMAX® by Warner Bros. Pictures, opening only in theaters in North America on June 27, 2025 and internationally beginning 25 June 2025.
From Apple Original Films, F1 stars Brad Pitt as a former driver who returns to Formula 1, alongside Damson Idris as his teammate at APXGP, a fictional team on the grid. The feature is being shot during actual Grand Prix weekends as the team competes against the titans of the sport.
Accompanied by the music of Queen, here’s a first look.
This is next level, MOVIE STAR, STEVE MCQUEEN quality! Add this to your must-sees of 2025!
Deadline first reported that the F1 package was snapped up by Apple for $130 million-$140 million, before above-the-line compensation. Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”) directs and produces the feature alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films; Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner for Plan B Entertainment; and Lewis Hamilton under his Dawn Apollo Films banner.
Read an excerpt form Deadline’s exclusive interview with the filmmakers:
DEADLINE: You embed yourselves at the racetracks and are shooting while races are happening. How does that ramp up pressure to get the shots you need first time?
KOSINSKI: Last year, at Silverstone, we had a scene we shot on the grid. I think we had something like nine minutes to shoot a one, or one-and-a-half-page dialogue scene with three actors. It’s like a pitstop. It really brings an intensity and everyone’s leaning forward in a way that maybe you wouldn’t on a normal shoot day on a soundstage, where you’ve got 10 hours to get right. Now, when you’ve got nine minutes, with all the actors you can just see the adrenaline going beforehand and you feel that in the performances.
DEADLINE: Jerry, Joe, you say that for the last half of the season, you’re covering nine races, which tracks will we see in the movie?
KOSINSKI: Daytona 24 hours, which is obviously not Formula 1, but it’s a race we shot that will make sense when people see the movie. Then we have: Silverstone, Hungary, Spa (Belgium), Monza (Italy), Zandfoort (Netherlands), Japan, Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi and Mexico City.
The star-studded cast also includes Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem, and Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe Award nominee Tobias Menzies, Emmy Award nominee Sarah Niles, Kim Bodnia and Samson Kayo.
Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”) directs and produces the feature alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films; Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner for Plan B Entertainment; and Lewis Hamilton under his Dawn Apollo Films banner.
The film is made in collaboration with Formula 1® and the F1 community, including the 10 F1 teams and their drivers, the FIA, and race promoters. Copper CEO Penni Thow serves as executive producer.
Made in collaboration with Formula 1®, the new film is immersed in the exhilarating and cinematic world of F1, as filming takes place at races on the sport’s calendar.
Apple Original Films has announced that its highly anticipated Formula 1® feature film starring Brad Pitt and hailing from director Joseph Kosinski, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Plan B Entertainment, and seven-time F1® world champion Lewis Hamilton’s Dawn Apollo Films banner, will be distributed in theaters around the world and in IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures in North America on June 27, 2025, and internationally beginning June 25, 2025. Made in collaboration with Formula 1®, the new film is immersed in the exhilarating and cinematic world of F1®, as filming takes place at races on the sport’s calendar.
Starring Brad Pitt as a former driver who returns to Formula 1®, alongside Damson Idris as his teammate at APXGP, a fictional team on the grid, the feature has been shot during actual Grand Prix weekends as the team competes against the titans of the sport. The star-studded cast also includes Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem, Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe Award nominee Tobias Menzies, Sarah Niles, Kim Bodnia and Samson Kayo.
Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”) directs and produces the feature alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films; Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner for Plan B Entertainment; and Hamilton under his Dawn Apollo Films banner. The film is made in collaboration with Formula 1® and the F1® community, including the 10 F1® teams and their drivers, the FIA and race promoters. Academy Award nominee Ehren Kruger (“Top Gun: Maverick”) writes the screenplay. Copper CEO Penni Thow serves as executive producer.
The wide theatrical release will also include IMAX theaters. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX’s customized theater geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.
You know might feel really great, and completely relaxing, after surviving the often stressful end-of-the-year holidays? Why a refreshing dip in the pool of course! Oh, but you’re not near an indoor facility, so you’ll have to wait out the long frigid winter until the temps are near ninety or so. Well, how about making a virtual splash at the multiplex? And this “cement pond” doesn’t shut down with the sunset. But doing “laps” alone in the fluorescent lit waters can be pretty spooky. And that’s the inspiration for the first new horror flick of 2024, which may just make you “swear off” any notions about taking a NIGHT SWIM. Marco…Marco…
This tale of soggy terror begins with a flashback to the early 1990s. Late one night a girl of eight or nine spies her ailing brother’s motorboat doing circles in the deep end of the family pool. When she can’t raise her folks, the youngster decides to try and “fish” it out with the cleaning scoop, causing her to fall in, and disappear…and we’re in the present day. Former pro baseball player Ray Walker (Wyatt Russell) is checking out a possible new home with wife Eve (Kerry Condon) along with kids Izzy (Amelie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren). They’re not impressed with the “accessible” (Ray’s sidelined due to MS) townhouse that their real estate agent has shown. But on the drive home, they spot a gorgeous two-story house with a big swimming pool. Thinking the pool will be great for his physical therapy, Ray, along with Eve, makes an offer…which is quickly accepted. After they’ve unpacked, the family begins fixing up the pool until an odd dark brown bile oozes out of the drain. A “home aquatic ” expert informs them that a natural spring is just under the pool floor, and his crew can fix any potential seepage issues. Soon after the whole family enjoys the relaxing waters until…the weirdness really begins. Cider, the family cat, vanishes leaving his kitty collar floating under the diving board. Then Ray begins having memory flashes while underwater which leads to his health miraculously improving. But when things take an ugly turn at a big neighborhood pool party, Eve does some digging. She learns of the young girl in the flashback, and of other disappearances over the previous seventy or so years. Will her family become the latest victims in the pool’s twisted history?
Following up her stellar work in 2022’s THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (she won a coveted St. Louis Film Critics Assoc. award), Condon provides a strong family matriarch, who’s ready to do the research and the legwork to get to the bottom (or deep end) of this mystical pond. Her Eve wants to be encouraging to her family, especially her stricken hubby, while trying to keep the peace, especially with her squabbling siblings. Condon even gets a chance to hone her action “chops” in the truly breathtaking finale. She’s a good parental partner with Russell, who gets to show his easy-going warmth as the father who may need as much nurturing as his kids. Ray’s frustrated as he recalls his “glory days’ until something “in the water” gives him renewed hope. And Russell builds on Ray’s underdog status making his turn to his darker impulses in the third act terrifying and heartbreaking. Hoeferle is quite effective as the big sister yearning to pursue a first love, while uneasy about her new surroundings and those eerie nights practicing for the school’s Christian swim team. As the somewhat timid and awkward kid brother, Warren projects a real vulnerability as he struggles to follow in his dad’s cleats and navigate his new environs. The film also sports a couple of nifty supporting turns by Nancy Lenehan as the loopy, clueless real estate agent and Jodi Long as the creepy, nearly unhinged former owner of the house.
Expanding on his 2014 short of the same name director and co-writer (with Rod Blackhurst) Bryce McGuire strives to establish an engaging family dynamic to fuel the story’s moments of deadly danger and mystery. Unfortunately, the domestic sequences feel sluggish, making viewers frustrated as they wait for another spooky “soaking” of suspense. The pacing also lets us ponder the more absurd and illogical aspects of the plot. The opening incident happened thirty years ago and nobody in the neighborhood, or the suburb, remembers. Wouldn’t the police, or at least one of the former owners, have shut down the pool after so many have vanished? Then the pool’s loopy secret is slowly revealed with elements of the 80s COCOON along with some biblical riffs. Finally, the last act payoff is amped up with another scary-possessed parent targeting the kids (done more effectively in last year’s EVIL DEAD RISE). Plus many of the terror “shocks” feel “watered-down” to get an inclusive PG-13 rating (maybe an unrated home video version is in the works). Ultimately the movie upholds a tradition of starting the new movie year with a “quick buck” chiller to fill the multiplex at post-awards time (at least last January’s M3GAN had a sly satiric bent). It’s an easy cliche, but NIGHT SWIM just doesn’t float, but slowly sinks. Alright, everybody out of the pool…
Watch and share the new trailer for NIGHT SWIM, in theaters January 5.
No running. No diving. No lifeguard on duty. No swimming after dark.
Atomic Monster and Blumhouse, the producers of M3GAN, high dive into the deep end of horror with the new supernatural thriller, Night Swim.
Based on the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire, the film stars Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve (Oscar® nominee Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin), teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle, this fall’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and young son Elliot (Gavin Warren, Fear the Walking Dead).
Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home’s shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home’s past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror.
Night Swim is written and directed by Bryce McGuire (writer of the upcoming film Baghead) and is produced by James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Jason Blum, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man. The film is executive produced by Michael Clear and Judson Scott for Wan’s Atomic Monster and by Ryan Turek for Blum’s Blumhouse.
Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon will star in Night Swim from writer/director Bryce McGuire. The film is based on the short film created by McGuire and Rod Blackhurst. Atomic Monster and Blumhouse are producing the film for Universal Pictures, and is the first collaboration for the two companies following the debut of the recent hit film M3GAN, which grossed $30.4M domestically this past weekend.
Details are being kept under wraps but Night Swim is being described as a supernatural thriller built around the hidden source of terror found in an iconic backyard swimming pool. The film is slated to start production soon and will open theatrically on January 19, 2024.
James Wan and Jason Blum are producers on the film. Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Judson Scott and Blumhouse’s Ryan Turek are executive producers. Alayna Glasthal will be the creative executive overseeing the film for Atomic Monster.
Wyatt Russell will next be seen starring in the Apple+ and Legendary Television’s Untitled Godzilla Series, alongside Kurt Russell, Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett and Elisa Lasowski. Following, Wyatt will be seen in Marvel’s upcoming film Thunderbolts, alongside Florence Pugh and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Disney is slated to release this project July 26, 2024. While the exact plot is still being kept under wraps, this will be a reprisal of Wyatt’s acclaimed role in the Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Most recently, Wyatt was seen in FX’s acclaimed limited drama series, Under the Banner of Heaven, alongside Andrew Garfield, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sam Worthington. Also last year, offscreen, Wyatt starred and executive produced the new QCode action podcast series Classified. Russell’s previous film credits include: Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, which was nominated for a Gotham Award in the category of Best Feature; Jeff Grace’s Folk Hero & Funny Guy, for which he starred in, wrote and played all the live guitar performances; Ingrid Goes West; Overlord; Joe Wright’s Hitchcockian drama, The Woman in the Window; Ethan Hawke’s Blaze alongside Sam Rockwell and Kris Kristofferson, among several others. On television, his previous credits include the Blumhouse Television limited series for Showtime, The Good Lord Bird alongside Ethan Hawke; starring in AMC’s Lodge 49 which Wyatt reprised his role for both seasons; and Netflix’s critically acclaimed anthology series Black Mirror.
photo credit: Stephanie Diani
Kerry Condon can currently be seen starring opposite Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in Martin McDonagh acclaimed film, The Banshees of Inisherin. Condon has garnered rave reviews as well as Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations for her performance as Siobhán.
She will next be seen in the upcoming thriller In The Land Of Saints And Sinners alongside Liam Neeson and Ciarán Hinds. Condon’s film credits include Angela’s Ashes, the Academy Award-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Bad Samaritan; Dom Hemingway opposite Jude Law; and the Oscar winning short film The Shore, among others. Condon lends her voice to the role of “Friday” in Avengers: Endgame, Infinity War and Age of Ultron as well as in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Captain American: Civil War. On television, Kerry was recently seen as “Molly Sullivan” in the third season of Showtime’s Ray Donovan as well as the series’ successive movie and appeared on shows such as Women on the Verge, Better Call Saul, Luck and Rome. On stage at just 19, Condon originated the role of “Mairead” in The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh at The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York. In that same year she played “Ophelia” in Hamlet, making her the youngest actress to ever play that role for The Royal Shakespeare Company. Kerry also starred in the first production of After the End by Dennis Kelly. In 2009, she appeared in The Cripple of Inishmaan, also by McDonagh, for which she won a Lucille Lortel and a Drama Desk award.
photo credit: Blumhouse
After graduating AFI, Bryce McGuire slashed onto the genre scene with the sale of his original spec, The White Room, to Amblin/Picture Company and work on Never Ever for Blumhouse and Baghead for StudioCanal/Picture Co. McGuire is currently working with Vera Farmiga on the surrealist comedy series Tabloid Dreams for Bron Studios.
Wyatt Russell is represented by UTA, Narrative and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.
Kerry Condon is represented by CAA, Curtis Brown Group, Framework Entertainment, Wolf-Kasteler, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman.
Bryce McGuire is represented by Gersh and Logan Clare at Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
James Wan is represented by CAA, Stacey Testro International, and Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light.
In her review, Cate Marquis said THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN “is an impressive piece of cinema on all levels.”
From acclaimed filmmaker Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) comes the masterful tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin. This immersive tale of friendship and folly has delighted cinemagoers and been celebrated by critics as “simply perfect” (Kevin Maher, The Times) and “sweepingly cinematic” (David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter). The film is Certified-Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes™ and arrives on Digital December 13 and Blu-ray and DVD on December 20, with never-before-seen bonus content featuring actors Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and director-writer Martin McDonagh.
The film made its World Premiere in September to critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay Award for McDonagh and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for Farrell. It went on to release theatrically in October, earning the highest opening per screen average of the fall.
From director-writer Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) comes a unique film starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Although Pádraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson) have been lifelong friends, they find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, bringing alarming consequences for both of them.
Bonus Features*
Featurette
Creating The Banshees of Inisherin – Go into the inimitable mind of director-writer Martin McDonagh as he delves into The Banshees of Inisherin, from story inception and reunion of its gifted actors, to searching the islands of Ireland for the perfect, evocative locations.
Deleted Scenes
Chasing Colm
Colm Can’t Compose
Parents’ Grave and Peadar
Siobhan Crying Too Loud
Stoic Equals Boring
*Bonus features vary by product and retailer
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 20, 2022 and WAMG is giving away to three of our lucky readers a BLU-RAY copy.
EMAIL michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com to enter.
YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES. NO DUPLICATE ADDRESSES.
WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
Music by
Carter Burwell
Product Specifications
Street Date
Digital: December 13, 2022
Physical: December 20, 2022
Product SKUs
Digital: UHD, HD, SD
Physical:Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + Digital Code) & DVD
Feature Run Time
114 minutes
Rating
U.S. Rated R
**For language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity
Aspect Ratio
Digital: 2.39:1
Physical: 2.39:1
U.S. Audio
Blu-ray: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, English AD 2.0 Dolby Digital
DVD: English 5.1 Dolby, English AD 2.0 Dolby
Digital: English Dolby Atmos (UHD only, some platforms), English 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital, English Descriptive Audio 2.0 Dolby Digital (some platforms), Spanish 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital
U.S. Subtitles
Blu-ray: English SDH, Spanish, French
DVD: English SDH, Spanish, French
Digital: English SDH, French, Spanish (some platforms)
The brilliant THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN reunites IN BRUGES co-stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson with Martin McDonagh for the writer/playwright/director’s dark comedy about a long friendship coming apart on a tiny Irish island in shocking fashion. But in this film, the comedy is darker and with a looming threat of violence, putting it more in the vein of one of playwright McDonagh’s plays like “The Hangmen” or “The Pillowman.” If you have been lucky enough to see any of his plays on stage, you know his signature combination of dark humor with undercurrents of violence, packed with biting witty dialog and thought-provoking subject matter, usually with a distinctly Irish accent.
Like a lot of the writer/playwright/director’s work, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is both darkly funny, tragic, a bit violent and more than a bit mad, yet with a deep humanity beneath it all. The film is suffused with stunning photography of the natural world and set in 1923 with the Irish Civil War in the background on the distant mainland. It also is a film bursting with remarkable acting performances, particularly from Colin Farrell. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is a reminder of just how very good an actor Colin Farrell truly is.
On the fictional Irish island of Inisherin, a place filled with natural beauty off the western coast of Ireland, a pair of long-time friends – Padraic Suilleabhain (Colin Farrell), a young farmer everyone calls “nice” and Colm Doherty, an older fiddle player, composer and artistic soul – have the habit of going to the island’s only pub every day at 2 p.m., for pints and conversation. One day, Padraic calls on Colm promptly at 2 p.m. as usual for their walk to the pub but Colm refuses to answer the door, or even respond when Padraic speaks to him through the window. Puzzled, Padraic tells his friend he’ll meet him at the pub and heads over. At the pub, Padraic shares his friend’s strange behavior with the pub owner Jonjo (Pat Shortt). “Are you rowing?” the publican asks. “I didn’t think we were rowing,” Padraic replies. Padraic leaves the pub briefly, and returns to find Colm there. But Colm avoids him, even telling him not to sit by him.
“Are we rowing? I didn’t think we were rowing,” the confused Padraic says repeatedly, wondering if they had quarreled in some argument he had forgotten, turning the question over in his head, over and over. Everyone seems to ask the same thing, and Padraic always replies “I didn’t think we were rowing.” It sets up a comic riff but while the effect is humorous, Padraic is becoming increasingly upset by his friend’s mysterious behavior. Finally confronting Colm, Colm tells him that he no longer wants to be friends and forbids the younger man to speak to him. Eventually, it comes out that the older Colm, pondering that his life is running out and contemplating his legacy, decided he needs to spend more of it on his music, composition and teaching younger musicians, and not wasting time with Padraic.
Stunned, Padraic can’t quite wrap his head around this and keeps thinking there is something he can do to restore their friendship, until Colm makes a shocking threat of violence if Padraic doesn’t leave him alone, The threat is so absurd that all the other characters wonder aloud if it is real. However, those who familiar with McDonagh’s stage work know that such mentions of violence are rarely idle.
This is a story of a break-up, of a friendship rather than a romance, but a break-up nonetheless. These two are not “frenemies” but true friends – or were until one day when one of them decides they are not. That leaves the other one having a hard time as he struggles to accept, even comprehend, a decision he played no role in, and deciding what he, the friend left behind, must do.
McDonagh doesn’t take sides here, and individuals might sympathize more with one man or the other, but the film spends more time with Colin Farrell’s Padraic, as he is the one who had to come to grips with what to do next. On the surface, Colm and Padraic don’t seem to have much in common, although they have been friends a long time.
Padraic is a young farmer, raising cows and selling the milk, and someone known for his easy-going, likable manner and for being “nice.” The older Colm is a fiddle player and composer, a more complicated man with other artistic interests, someone given to deep thought and reading with an interest in history and literature. Colm lives alone, Padraic with his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon), the other island’s devoted reader, who dotes on and cares for her younger brother. Colm has a border collie as a pet, Padraic has a miniature donkey. The animals play a role in the unexpected events that unfold.
It’s an island, and eventually it seems everyone is involved in the split in some way, or at least those who come in regular contact with either Colm or Padraic.
The sharply satiric dialog and story’s comedic beats always delight but the acting is so sparkling, so deep, that is a constant joy throughout. Each actor gets the very most out of every scene, whether alone or ensemble. Colin Farrell expresses volumes with the twitch of a bushy eyebrow or the shift of his posture, continually breaking our hearts with his pain and frustrating us with his mistakes. Brendan Gleeson is outstanding as always, conveying his different kind of pain, a man brooding over his legacy and finding time fleeting, embroiled in a distracting situation he somehow didn’t anticipate.
However praise must go to the actors in supporting roles as well. Barry Keoghan continues to turn in striking character performances, here playing a young man, Dominic Kearney, who is both an irritating pest and a heartbreaking portrait of loneliness. Kerry Condon is wonderful as Padraic’s sister Siobhan, often the voice of reason cutting through the island’s inward looking nonsense, as well as warm sympathetic ear for her confused, well-meaning brother. Other little, more comic roles break the tension, notably Pat Shortt as the publican Jonjo and David Pearse as the priest, who has a sidesplitting exchange with Brendan Gleeson in the confessional. Gary Lydon adds a chilling note as Peadar Kearney, the island’s brutal, cold-hearted local cop and Dominic’s abusive single father, as does Sheila Flitton as Mrs. McCormick, a creeping, creepy older woman in black whose smile and mysterious mutterings might evoke thoughts of Macbeth’s “weird sisters.”
The film opens with Director of Photography Ben Davis’ gorgeous shots of the natural world, showing the breath-taking beauty of the place and often featuring animals, wild and domesticated, in that peaceful-looking landscape. The film was shot on Inishmore and Achill Island on the west coast of Ireland, although the island where the story takes place is fictional. A spot-on perfect musical score by Carter Burwell completes the picture. We get a sense that these few people on the island are living in a place of beauty and magic, but gradually we realize that they are so consumed by their own petty personal troubles, they hardly see it.
The story is set in spring of 1923, and the Irish Civil War is raging. But the war is unfolding on the mainland, and on the island, they only hear the sounds of the guns and distant explosions. The islanders are aware of it but they are apart from it, although it might linger at the back of our minds.
There is something particularly resonant about setting this tale in Ireland in 1923, on an isolated island, during the Irish Civil Wars. The civil war creates its own madness, the closed community of the island (in pre-mass media 1923) creates its own pressure cooker, and whatever existential crisis is troubling Colm adds to the simmering pot.
As wars often do, the conflict between Colm and Padraic starts over something small but hurtful, that then escalates. Their “war” is a reminder that wars often start over something small but that absolutes, all-or-nothing decisions or ultimatums, have consequences. In this personal conflict, it is a reminder that putting ones’ work above people or doing something for selfishness reasons can have consequences too, or even lead to unintended results. The director seems to be questioning whether absolutes are the best human choice, if compromise or setting boundaries might work better, by illustrating how things get out of hand, even little things, until conflict, or even war, is inescapable.
And the banshees? We never see or hear supernatural spirits wailing in the night, although they do come up in conversation at one point. But it is hard to say there are not mad banshees howling here.
There is a lot of food for thought to mull over in this meaty film, although some viewers may be so shocked by the film’s end that those thoughts may have to wait a bit, as is often the case with McDonagh’s plays. But there are things here about humanity that are worth revisiting. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is a brilliantly acted and directed film that indirectly and subtly draws larger human lessons by following the break-up of a friendship. It is an impressive piece of cinema on all levels – visually, performance, acting, story-telling – with the addition of offering deeply-considered thoughts on other human conflicts, which is as worthwhile a topic as one can find at this moment in history.
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN opens Friday, Nov. 4, in theaters.
Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell previously worked together in 2008’s IN BRUGES, an excellent black comedy crime film. McDonagh won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
The three are together again for THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN.
Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN follows lifelong friends Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and troubled young islander Dominic (Barry Keoghan), endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer. But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.
