[5][6][7] Set on a remote fictional island off the west coast of Ireland in 1923,[a] the film stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two lifelong friends who find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with severe consequences for both of them.

The film received largely positive reviews, with particular praise for McDonagh's direction and screenplay, the performances of the cast, and Carter Burwell's score.

[18][19][20][21] In the spring of 1923, near the end of the Irish Civil War, on the fictional isle of Inisherin (literally "the island of Ireland"),[a][22][23] fiddler Colm Doherty abruptly begins ignoring his lifelong best friend and drinking buddy Pádraic Súilleabháin.

In February 2020, it was reported that Martin McDonagh had set his next directorial effort up with Searchlight Pictures, and that it would reunite him with his In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

[26] Locations used on Achill include Cloughmore (JJ Devine's Pub), Corrymore Lake (Mrs. McCormick's cottage), Keem Bay (Colm's house), Purteen Harbour (O'Riordan's shop), and St. Thomas's Church in Dugort.

[30] Costume designer Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh discussed the pains she and her team took to make the wardrobe not feel like "a pastiche of the Aran Islands", which included using cloth that was entirely homespun and only using Irish wools, linens, and overdyed fabrics.

The website's consensus reads: "Featuring some of Martin McDonagh's finest work and a pair of outstanding lead performances, The Banshees of Inisherin is a finely crafted feel-bad treat.

[58] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars, writing that "as a study of male loneliness and swallowed anger it is weirdly compelling and often very funny".

[59] Todd McCarthy of Deadline Hollywood wrote that the film is "a simple and diabolical tale of a friendship's end shot through with bristling humor and sudden moments of startling violence".

[60] David Ehrlich of IndieWire rated it B+, writing that "its constant undercurrent of humor affords the story's most pressing questions an appropriately ridiculous context, one that speaks to the absurdities of all existence".

[61] Matthew Creith of Screen Rant wrote that the film's "demonstration of the metaphorical aspects of civil disobedience and internal protest between a set of individuals is remarkably hilarious".

[62] The New York Times's Kyle Buchanan wrote: "The film was rapturously received here in Venice, earning a lengthy standing ovation and rave reviews.

"[63] For Variety, Guy Lodge wrote: "What begins as a doleful, anecdotal narrative becomes something closer to mythic in its rage and resonance: McDonagh has long fixated on the most visceral, vengeful extremes of human behavior, but never has he formed something this sorely heartbroken from that fascination.

"[64] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "a ruminative ensemble piece that expertly balances the tragicomic with the macabre, inhabiting territory adjacent to McDonagh's stage work yet also sweepingly cinematic".

[65] Robbie Collin of The Telegraph awarded it 5/5 stars and called it "an often shoulder-shudderingly funny film, whose comic dialogue is dazzlingly designed and performed".

[66] Conversely, Mark Feeney, writing for The Boston Globe, gave the film an unenthusiastic review, calling it "a short story trying to be a novel" and the metaphor for the Irish Civil War "awfully flat-footed".

"[68] Ed Power of The Telegraph wrote that "underneath its Quiet Man curlicues, a much better movie strains for freedom" and was disappointed that McDonagh chose to "shroud his character study in hackneyed Paddy-isms".

[70] John Waters, however, praised the film in his review for First Things for taking "the kitschified, cliched landscape of Ireland and [handing] it back to itself, cleansed ...

Most Irish writers and artists simply run away from the tainted iconography, but McDonagh cleans it off and kisses it, redeeming it with a new meaning in which the irony is both present and transcended".

Still, riding on the wee legs of little Jenny the miniature donkey, The Banshees of Inisherin pulls far ahead in the race for McDonagh's outright saddest film when two old drinking partners suddenly go their separate ways.

[21] In August 2023, JJ Devine's Pub was reassembled with the help of Kilkerrin local and publican Luke Mee, becoming a tourist destination due to the film's familiarity and popularity in the area.