Clap Watch: Colin Farrell and The Banshees of Inisherin now lead with 13-minute standing ovation
The standing ovation launches Martin McDonagh's drama to the top of this year's rankings
Aux News Standing Ovation
This is the space to watch. The standing ovation station. The clap-o-meter. This is where we measure and break down the length and vigor of the standing ovations at this year’s film festivals thus far, and we’ve got a major update to this year’s rankings.
While Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis previously held this year’s lead with a 12-minute clap attack at Cannes, the biopic has been unseated over the long weekend by Colin Farrell’s The Banshees Of Inisherin, which received a 13-minute “rapturous” standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival.
Per Variety’s detailed breakdown of the standing ovation, Farrell “broke tradition” by running through the audience, taking photos and signing autographs, spurring more applause. Apparently, the “love for The Banshees Of Inisherin was so intense, with the crowd leaping to its feet with such passion” that the standing ovation started to spill over into the premiere of Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, forcing the ushers to hustle people out of the theater.
A tale of the vigors of male friendship, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin stars Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two lifelong pals living on the fictional island of Inisherin in 1923. When one of them suddenly ends the friendship, the small town is left reeling from the repercussions.
“I’m glad to see male friendship as something valuable at the moment when the readjustment of everyone’s relationships with everybody is under reconsideration,” Gleeson said in Venice. “The valuing of male friendship against a bromance to me is very deep and pertinent right now.”
With its ovation, The Banshees Of Inisherin holds a strong lead over other Venice offerings. Todd Field’s TÁR received a 6-minute ovation (and wildly positive reviews), followed by Luca Guadingino’s Bones And All earning a whopping 8.5 minutes. Toward the bottom lies Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, whose applause lasted for four minutes, mired by the tension between the director and star Florence Pugh. Notably, Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale received a 6-minute standing ovation, with a teary-eyed Brendan Fraser leading headlines.
The Banshees Of Inisherin arrives in theaters on October 21.
17 Comments
Who the hell likes anything that much?
I’d give you a standing ovation for your fine ring work, sir.
7 minutes into the clap, the audience saw Brendan Fraser.
that the length of the applause is now a metric of review again feels so royal court 1700’s.
“clap watch”…this wasn’t what I was expecting at all LOL, very disappointed, two thumbs down (or I suppose for this context, a zero minute standing ovation)
(makes generic “your mom” joke)
hopefully t***p will take a shine to this whole concept and force his cultists to stand and clap for longer and longer times at his rallies to show their fealty…they’ll HATE that LOL
Clapping for that long seems insane to me – I saw the stage version of Matilda in London last month and thought it was superb, and the lead actress was just amazing, receiving a standing ovation from everyone in the audience. But even then we only clapped for about four or five minutes, and it was only that long because the production has such a huge cast, if I’d clapped for thirteen minutes I think my hands would have been in a huge amount of pain!
Perhaps Florence Pugh agrees with you, hence her cutting it off by leaving.
Wait wtf I saw the Brendan Fraser Clap Watch and I assumed it was a one-off…. this is seriously the only coverage you guys are doing of the event…? Reporting on how long people clapped for celebrities….? Jesus fucking christ A.V. Club
But actually reporting on the movie itself is so hard! This is way easier and faster — especially if you wait until someone else reports it.
Every one of these standing ovation idiots is a ridiculously pathetic jackass.
I hope this continues on, film teams competing with film teams, until Cannes audiences are induced and/or bribed to applaud for so long that people start fainting from fatigue and dehydration. I hope these, I’m sure, completely genuine standing ovations become so lengthy that they morph into performance art and organizers are forced to rope them off and continue the festival in other venues.
I’m surprised people aren’t still clapping for Don’t Worry Darling. It should go on for days. People should keel over. Cats and dogs, living together.
I prefer to know how many people walked out — that was always what they reported whenever Lars von Trier had a film in competition. The more people who walked out, the better the film!!!
I’m very happy to hear that this was so well received.The setting, the writer, the leads, the subject matter…it’s encouraging that this is something to which I can look forward with eagerness.
Whoa, Todd Field finally has a new movie! That’s very exciting.