The films of British Irish filmmaker and playwright Martin McDonagh are their own distinctive subgenre — populated by irascible but lovable characters, his films are the work of a true auteur, distinctive in their worldview, though diverse in their milieu.

His latest film, “Wild Horse Nine,” starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Parker Posey, Steve Buscemi and Mariana di Girolamo, takes place on Easter Island, featuring a couple of CIA agents (Malkovich and Rockwell) on an uneasy vacation. It’s pure McDonagh: poignant and foul-mouthed and fiercely funny as it is insightful and devastating.

It slots perfectly into his oeuvre, landing somewhere between “The Banshees of Inshierin” and “In Bruges.” With the arrival of “Wild Horse Nine” in theaters this weekend, now is the perfect chance to familiarize, or refamiliarize yourself, with McDonagh’s cinematic output. That does include his Oscar-winning 2004 short film “Six Shooter,” starring frequent collaborator Brendan Gleeson, though that film is only available to watch on the streaming platform Shorts TV (you can access that through Amazon Prime).

Though McDonagh’s breakout as a playwright came in the mid-1990s, his arrival in the film world, after winning the Oscar for “Six Shooter,” was with the 2008 buddy crime comedy “In Bruges,” featuring Colin Farrell and Gleeson as two hit men hiding out in the storybook city of Bruges, Belgium, after a botched hit. Ralph Fiennes co-stars as their boss. The film rests on the banter between Farrell and Gleeson, who would later reunite with McDonagh for “The Banshees of Inisherin” in 2022, with McDonagh earning an Oscar nomination for the screenplay. Rent or buy “In Bruges” on all digital platforms.

For his next feature, McDonagh took on Hollywood with the ensemble piece “Seven Psychopaths” in 2012. Reuniting with Farrell, who stars as a screenwriter, McDonagh added Rockwell to his troupe, who co-stars as a struggling actor. The pair become caught up in the criminal underworld of L.A. after the accidental kidnapping of a gangster’s dog. This film was also the first collaboration with his longtime cinematographer, Ben Davis, who shoots “Wild Horse Nine.” Stream “Seven Psychopaths” on Kanopy.

In 2017, McDonagh stayed in America for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” about a woman (Frances McDormand) enraged by her daughter’s rape and murder, who puts up billboards in town demanding answers from the town’s police chief. McDonagh reunited with Rockwell and Woody Harrelson from “Seven Psychopaths,” and the film was a critical success, with McDormand and Rockwell winning Oscars for their performances, among seven nominations for the film in total. Stream “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” on HBO Max.

The Academy also loved McDonagh’s 2022 film “The Banshees of Inisherin,” which brought Farrell and Gleeson back together in this curious friendship fable. The pair star as friends on the small (fictional) island of Inisherin who find themselves suddenly at odds when one decides to end the friendship. Set in 1923, the film references the Troubles in Northern Ireland in its allegory, but is set in its own remote world. It earned nine Oscar nominations, and won Farrell a Golden Globe for his performance. Stream “The Banshees of Inisherin” on Hulu.

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