The brilliant Irish playwrightMartin McDonaghis responsible for some of the greatest and most delightfully absurd dark comedies of the 21st century. Although McDonagh crafted his brilliant wordplay on the stage with his highly influential theater work, he’s shown an equal amount of brilliance with the films that he’s directed. McDonagh has relied upon great actors likethe legendaryColin Farrell,Brendan Gleeson,Sam Rockwell,andWoody Harrelsonto bring some truly absurd characters to life. His work has frequently attracted the interest of Academy Award voters.
It’s hard to say if McDonagh is an optimist or a pessimist, as his films have shown both the best and worst of human behavior. McDonagh’s characters feel completely realistic in their desires, struggles, and mannerisms, even if every conversation feels somewhat idiosyncratic. However, it would be a disservice to say that McDonagh’s strengths lie only in his writing, as his visual capabilities have certainly improved over the course of his career in filmmaking: how do his feature-length films so far?
4’Seven Psychopaths' (2012)
Seven Psychopaths’ranking at the end of the list just goes to show how strong McDonagh’s filmography is; most directors would be lucky to have a film as entertaining, surprising, and strangely melancholy asSeven Psychopathswithin their filmography. McDonagh channels his own anxieties about the artistic process in this film about the alcoholic writer Marty (Colin Farrell) who is struggling to come up with a new story. The various crime scenarios and darkly humorous exchanges that follow feel like an extension of Marty’s writer’s block, and it’s never clear how much of the film is plucked straight from his imagination.
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Seven Psychopathsisn’t quite as profound as some of the other films within McDonagh’s filmography, but it does have some of his strongest characters.Christopher Walkengives one of his best performances in recent memory as the aging criminal Hans Kieslowski; Walken’s talents have been severely underutilized in recent years, but McDonagh crafted a character that the eccentric actor could really relish.
3’Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' (2017)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouriwas among McDonagh’s most successful award season contenders; the film earned him nominations at the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Although the rest of McDonagh’s films are set within his home country,Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouriexamined issues like police corruption and racial discrimination within the United States. The film follows the grieving mother Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) as she calls out the failures of the local police chief Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) to investigate the death of her daughter;Sam Rockwellco-stars as the racist officer Jason Dixon, who decides to help Mildred in her search for her daughter’s killer in the wake of new developments within the case.
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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouristruggles at pointsto balance the weightiness of its themes with its absurdist sense of humor, but the film does not attempt to lionize any of its most disgusting characters. Mildred, Bill, and Jason are all flawed people, and McDonagh doesn’t attempt to suggest otherwise.
2’In Bruges' (2008)
In Brugesisn’t McDonagh’s most existential film,but it just might be his funniest. The dark crime comedy follows the gangsters Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) as they wait in the city of Bruges to complete the most recent assignment from their profane boss Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes).
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While there are enough wacky jokes at the expense of the city’s colloquial qualities to suggest something more goofy,In Brugesdoesn’t take very long to reveal its more twisted sense-of-humor. It’s soon revealed that Ray is responsible for the death of a young boy during a previous assignment, which may somewhat explain his constant state of misery. The film examines the irony of feeling “out of time,” and Farrell has rarely been better at playing a sad sack. Fiennes gives a scene-stealing performance and delivers a profane monologue worthy ofSteve MartininPlanes, Trains, and Automobiles.
1’The Banshees of Inisherin' (2022)
Romance isn’t a huge part of McDonagh’s filmography, butThe Banshees of Inisherinis a breakup movie. The only difference between his quirky Irish dark comedy and a film likeMarriage Storyis thatThe Banshees of Inisherinisn’t about a married couple but about friends. The film examines the value of simply “being nice” through the story of two lifelong best friends who experience a significant change in their relationship.
After his frequent barmate Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) decides to commit himself to a life of pursuing the arts, the hapless single man Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) feels like his life is spiraling out of control. Pádraic’s anxieties grow worse when he learns that his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) is moving away, which leads him to turn his wrath on the innocent local boy Dominic (Barry Keoghan). The performances that McDonagh gets out of his actors are the strongest of his films. Farrell succeeds at transforming Pádraic from a pathetic yet lovable alcoholic into a disturbing anti-hero, but it’s Keoghan’s role as “the boy that nobody loved” that is most heartbreaking.The Banshees of Inisherinis a profound statement about the futility of human existence. Somehow, McDonagh tricks the audience into laughing at their own misery
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