Is The Banshees Of Inisherin A Prequel To In Bruges?

Over the course of his filmography, Martin McDonagh has made a career out of carefully balancing dark humor with existential terror. However, none of his films have been quite as grim as "The Banshees of Inisherin" is. Set during the Irish Civil War in the early 1920s, the story follows Colm (Brendan Gleeson), a despondent musician who decides one day that he no longer wants to be around his best friend, Padraic (Colin Farrell), despite living in a rural village with him.

Being that the two performers worked so well together in McDonagh's breakout crime comedy, "In Bruges," it was only natural to reunite them. Still, while "In Bruges" had Gleeson as a hitman hired to murder Farrell's character, "The Banshees of Inisherin" is somehow even darker than its predecessor.

Either way, given that the films share a writer-director, as well as two principal performers, viewers might find themselves wondering whether they are connected in some way. Though the timeline alone is a dead giveaway that "The Banshees of Inisherin" isn't a prequel to "In Bruges," the films do share similar themes. In fact, the director sees his latest film as more of a sequel than anything else.

Martin McDonagh commented on the connections between "In Bruges" and "The Banshees of Inisherin" when he stopped by "Late Night with Seth Meyers." "It's literally almost like a sequel that goes wrong from the very first five minutes," he told the host. Notably, the story also juxtaposes the actor's roles in McDonagh's earlier film. 

While Colin Farrell's character in "In Bruges" is the one feeling suicidally depressed, this time around, it's Brendan Gleeson who is sucked into a black hole of ennui. Meanwhile, Farrell's Padraic is happy-go-lucky almost to the point of absurdity, a fact that only makes Gleeson's Colm want to push him away more. For his part, Meyers had some astute observations about the commonalities between the two films as well. "You watch them actually, like, fall in love and how close and how important male friendship can be," Meyers said. Meanwhile, he pointed out that "The Banshees of Inisherin" is "sort of the perfect reverse, which is this breakup story between two male friends."

Though "The Banshees of Inisherin" was nominated for nine Oscars, it ultimately failed to take home any of them home. Still, with its exceptional rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film's message of pointless hate and bodily mutilation definitely resonates, even if its outlook is somewhat bleak.