10 Movies That Ought to Have a Villain But Don't

Another master collaboration between writer-director Martin McDonagh and his stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin dramatises the follies of the Irish civil conflicts in microcosm.

On the remote island of Inisherin (literally translated as ‘the island of Ireland’), Pádraic (Farrell) hits the pub one day to find his best friend Colm (Gleeson) has abruptly put an end to their lifelong friendship, and wants nothing more to do with him. The film charts Pádraic’s misbegotten attempts to repair this friendship, which gradually grows to enmity with each of his bungled attempts, resulting in a dead pet (Pádraic’s), self-amputated fingers (Colm’s) and a previously peaceful island community in turmoil. 

Yet, despite the severity of this enmity, Colm never becomes a villain; he is stubborn, hard-headed and resolved not to change his mind no matter what his ex-friend does, but always tacks to the part of misunderstood co-protagonist. The absence of a genuine villain, a person unto whom we can attribute our feelings of hurt and blame, is felt all the more potently in a film that has multi-digit amputations, donkey manslaughter and a young man's suicide.