THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (15)

★★★★✩

Writer-director Martin McDonagh trades three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri for a fractured friendship off the coast of 1920s Ireland in a barbed comedy with the potential to draw blood at next year’s Academy Awards.

Dairy farmer Padraic Suilleabhain (Colin Farrell) and sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) live peacefully and unremarkably in the isolated community with their livestock including a cherished donkey called Jenny.

Every afternoon, Padraic shares a drink down the local pub with fiddle player Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson).

Out of the blue, Colm tells Padraic he no longer wishes to be friends or trade pleasantries: “I just don’t have a place for dullness in me life anymore.”

This sudden rejection sends Padraic into an emotional tailspin and he seeks guidance from the local priest.

When Padraic awkwardly engineers a reconciliation, Colm pledges to cut off one of his fingers each time the dairy farmer breaks the silence between them.

The Banshees Of Inisherin lines up pints of melodic melancholy, exasperation, dismemberment and full frontal male nudity and we enthusiastically drink the bar dry over the course of two engrossing hours.

■ In cinemas now

Colin Farrell as Padraic and Brendan Gleeson as Colm