It’s telling that Colm is fondest of Pádraic when he stops being the nice guy. He says that he likes Pádraic better when he’s drunk, for one. After Pádraic curses him out at the pub, Colm jokes that was the most interesting conversation they’ve ever had — “I think I like him again.”
Colm isn’t exactly a nice guy himself. When he goes to confession, the village priest (David Pearse) confronts him over abandoning Pádraic. Colm says what he’s doing isn’t sinful, and while the priest agrees, he says it’s not exactly nice either. Colm brushes that off. While Colm’s lacks Pádraic’s decency, he has passion, manifested in his music. Colm threatens (and follows through) to cut off his fingers if Pádraic doesn’t leave him be. It’s a perfect encapsulation of how depression makes you hurt yourself; Colm won’t be lesser just because of his missing fingers, but because he won’t play his fiddle ever again.
Pádraic, on the other hand, clearly never took much interest in Colm’s music. He doesn’t know who Mozart is, even though his friend admires the man. He does ask for the name of Colm’s completed composition, but as usual, it’s all small talk.
Does anyone on Inisherin have the proper blend of niceness and passion? Yes, Siobhán. She has the same kind heart as her brother and a love of reading to go with it. Naturally, she’s also the only one to escape the island’s purgatory, taking a librarian job on the mainland. Pádraic and Colm could both learn some useful lessons from listening to her Siobhán and part of the film’s tragedy is that they don’t.
Being nice to others is important. That doesn’t mean other qualities aren’t important to have.
