The Banshees of Inisherin vs The Forgiven (John Michael McDonagh's most ambitious film yet)

I liked The Banshees of Inisherin, don't get me wrong. Some witty dialogue, fine performances, interesting themes. It's just that I had kind of enjoyed the trajectory of Martin McDonagh's previous films, because he seemed, with Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards, to be bucking against the tendencies of independent filmmakers, in the face of success, to either lose sight of whatever values informed their early films in pursuit of Hollywood riches, or alternately, to disappear up their own bums with a Southland-Tales-sized exercise in unwatchably excessive ambition and folly. I loved that McDonagh kept his own wit and aesthetic intact and made two great, commercially successful films - Seven Psychopaths and especially Three Billboards - without losing sight of how to tell a story or what made, for instance, In Bruges great. I was keen for the next step - "Conquering the American cinematic landscape on his own terms" - so for him to retreat to a small island off the coast of Ireland to offer what is essentially a chamber drama (or a pub drama?) about two friends - even if they are meant to figure aspects of the Irish Civil War - seemed a bit of a step backwards, a step to safety. It's great that it succeeded, and I'll probably watch it again...

...But his older brother's 2021 film, The Forgiven, which I finally caught up with last night, is MUCH more interesting and rewarding, I thought. John Michael McDonagh is MAYBE not as gifted a storyteller as Martin is, all things considered, but I've enjoyed following his work, as well. The Guard is half-brilliant, and a great film for Brendan Gleeson fans to catch up on, but it also doesn't quite seem to know whether it wants to be an action movie or a spoof of an action movie or...; and its material about race and about Irish perceptions of America is more awkward than insightful, as I remember it. Calvary, which is the film that The Banshees of Inishiren most reminded me of and probably his best film before The Forgiven, is, like Banshees, a small-scale story, very Irish, about a Catholic priest "investigating" (in a laconic but concerned way) a death threat made against him by someone who had been the victim of a pedo priest (but not Gleeson!) years earlier. That's a fantastic film to check out if you liked Banshees, and also has a very strong lead role for Gleeson, but War on Everyone, McDonagh's next film and first attempt to "go American," was a film I was less taken with, found its comedy too broad, its ideas about America seeming to come more from the movies than anywhere else. I didn't finish it, but will someday.  

The Forgiven is a much bigger deal, certainly the older McDonagh's most ambitious film to date; I don't know if it's a better film than Calvary - that's a really hard comparison to make, since they're very different movies - but it's a lot bolder, and probably could take in a bigger audience than Calvary. The plot is very simple: a couple (played by Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) hit and kill an Arab boy on the way to a party held by a decadent gay couple in Morocco (Caleb Landry-Jones is one of them;' the McDonaghs often share cast members). It's an accident, but informed by Fiennes' being drunk, driving too fast, and being distracted by an argument with his wife. Consequences follow for Fiennes, as the boy's father - a Berber who has previously lost his wife - comes to the party to demand that Fiennes come to his home to see the boy buried and pay his respects, which he claims is a tribal custom; there is some suspense around what will happen, so it is truly best to know no more, but the story reminds one very much of the work of two writers, Patricia Highsmith (who also has a novel involving a white man "accidentally" killing an Arab, The Tremor of Forgery) and Paul Bowles (who has his share of stories involving westerners being called to account for their failings in the desert). Fiennes' is initially so unpleasant as a character that you rather wish him (and, really, all the other Americans and Brits in the film, who come across as decadent, spoiled, cynical, and deeply uncaring about each other) harm, but as the story progresses, your attitude towards the character changes (as does the character's attitude to what is happening). It's gripping stuff, a powerful drama with plenty of political meat to chew; and much more moving - especially if you're a self-hating westerner with a Catholic upbringing, like me - than The Banshees of Inisherin was. I'd be very curious what reception it has in the Middle East...

Mind you there are two things that are overtly, obviously wrong with The Forgiven, but they're small enough (and the film is otherwise so great) that you can kind of forgive and work around them. The fossils that the Arab boys sells are quite bizarre-looking, not seeming like fossils at all. Not sure what to make of them; I've never bought fossils in Morocco but I doubt very much they look like this. There is also some sort of atavistic, a-synchronic thing that happens with the costumes and attitudes, which in many ways evoke the 1940s or 50's, despite the film being set in the present day. Maybe McDonagh is deliberately trying to summon the days of Bowles, Burroughs, Brian Jones and so forth in the International Zone, which is a fine ambition, but one wonders why he felt the need to set the film in the present day; a couple of references to ISIS aside, there's really no reason for it (tho' there's a good Twitter joke, I guess). It's like he didn't quite have the confidence (or backing?) to make the period piece he intended. So you end up with fossils that don't look like fossils and a contemporary setting that feels in many respects like 1947. 

But if you're a McDonagh fan, don't hesitate with The Forgiven. I may even like it better than Calvary (which would be a very interesting film to compare it to, actually; even though there is nothing overtly Catholic about the Fiennes character, no reference to religion at all, there is definitely a role for confession and atonement in the film). I am not running down The Banshees of Inisherin - I liked it, too - but if you loved that film, you should check out The Forgiven as well.