Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

The Banshees of Inisherin

Metaphor lies heavily over the events of Martin McDonagh’s follow up to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Return to his native Ireland, McDonagh reunites with his In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Farrell plays Pádraic Súilleabháin, a simple-minded farmer on an island off the coast of Ireland whose best friend and drinking buddy, Colm Doherty (Gleeson), abruptly decides he no longer wants to be friends with him. Distressed over the rebuke, Pádraic tries desperately to rekindle their relationship only to find himself rebuffed in increasingly alarming fashion.

Farrell’s stint as a popular Hollywood pretty boy allowed audiences to believe him an incapable actor, but as In Bruges proved, he is a magnificent actor. His performance in this film is even better than his work in that McDonagh film. Farrell’s disbelief and consternation come through with subtlety in a quietly passionate performance that simmers through countless slights before finally bubbling over. Gleeson for his part plays the unconcerned compatriot with grim determination, insistent that he leave a legacy by focusing on his musical compositions rather than wasting his time listening to Pádraic prattle on about inane things. Kerry Condon, as Pádraic’s concerned sister Siobhán, gives a fierce portrayal of the loving sister who nevertheless wants to seek out a more refined life on the mainland and escape the simplistic and dull life of the island. Barry Keoghan also delivers a fine performance as the mentally challenged son of one of Pádraic’s neighbors who wants desperately to find a woman, but is too uncouth to secure one.

McDonagh’s film is set against the backdrop of the Catholic-Protestant hostility in Ireland known as “The Troubles.” Neighbors once familiar and friendly turning violent as religious ideologies conflict and violence is incited. The people on the fictional isle of Inisherin are largely removed from the conflicts and wonder how people who once lived in harmony could so easily fall out of disfavor. The metaphorical connection is obvious, but keenly observed. A subtle slight turns into increasingly antagonistic altercations between the pair with Colm choosing to cut off a finger to catalyze his assertion that he no longer wants to communicate with Pádraic, and the war of words and actions that emerge as a result.