Why Banshees may be wailing on Sunday...

THEY have been plugging it as ‘ Best Feckin Film’ for months in full-page adverts in the trade papers, but the wheels seem to have come off The Banshees Of Inisherin’s awards season bandwagon.

They had a disappointing night at the Baftas — nominated for ten awards but coming away with only four — and were beaten to all the big wins (Best Director, Best Film) by All Quiet On The Western Front.

Worse came at the SAG awards — whose voters overlap to a large degree with the Oscars Academy — where the comedy drama was nominated for five gongs but won… none.

This Sunday, the film is nominated for nine Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor (for Colin Farrell), Best Supporting Actor (Barry Keoghan and Brendan Gleeson), and Best Supporting Actress (Kerry Condon). But will it win anything?

I’m told Condon has the strongest chance but she will have to hope for a miracle to overcome Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Jamie Lee Curtis, who held the room in the palm of her hand at the SAG Awards when she confessed: ‘I am a nepo baby and I totally get it… but the truth of the matter is I am 64 years old and this is just amazing!’ Angela Bassett, nominated for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is also a very strong contender.

And then there’s the controversy over the depiction of ‘Irish tropes’. Director and writer Martin McDonagh, Mr Phoebe Waller-Bridge, becomes exercised if the topic is raised.

He told me last month: ‘ There is no backlash — it’s two journalists talking to each other on Twitter. You’re not one of them are you?’

However I spoke to a Bafta voter who was perturbed by the depiction of the Irish as drinkers and people of ‘limited intelligence’.

He said: ‘I couldn’t vote for the film. I’m afraid I just didn’t like it.’