A One Mann’s Movies review of “Belfast” (2022).
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
A darling of this year’s awards season, “Belfast” is the semi-autobiographical story of writer/director Kenneth Branagh’s early life during ‘The Troubles’. And as a film charting a loss of childhood innocence, it is as near perfect a film as I am likely to see this year.
Plot Summary:
Buddy (Jude Hill) is a young boy living on a normal terraced street in the centre of Belfast. Living a carefree, idyllic life of ‘street play’ he has few cares in the world, other than to get closer to the “love of his life”, classmate Catherine (Olive Tennant).
But it’s August 1969 and the street has a mixture of Protestant and Catholic families living there. While Buddy’s Pa (Jamie Dornan) and Ma (Catriona Balfe) try to remain strictly neutral, the partisan violence rife in the city inevitably spills over into their street.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Jamie Dornan, Catriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds, Jude Hill.
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh.
Written by: Kenneth Branagh.
“Belfast” Review:
Positives:
- The movie is simply pitch-perfect in viewing Buddy’s confusion in moving from his idyllic childhood into the harsher realities of life in a tumultuous time and place in history. Branagh’s script sizzles with authenticity and contains the perfect balance of touching and laugh-out-loud moments.
- The ensemble cast is tremendous and (I’ve just checked) it is in the running for the ensemble award from the Screen Actor’s Guild. Jamie Dornan and Ciarán Hinds deliver, imho, their best-ever work. And Judi Dench steals every shot she’s in, even those where she’s hiding in the background! The least well known of the stars, Catriona Balfe (she was Mollie in my top film of 2019, “Le Mans ’66“), is also teriffic as the mother put into an almost impossible situation by her husband’s work in GB.
- The cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos (a Branagh regular, who did “Thor”, “Murder on the Orient Express” and the upcoming “Death on the Nile”) is utterly gorgeous, from the opening colour montage of the city to the crisp, almost “Roma“-like black-and-white that makes up the majority of the film.
- Production design is spot on. It made for a trip down memory lanefor me, since I was 8 years old at the time the film was set: my mum used Omo washing powder; I had Buddy’s plastic Thunderbird 1 toy; and the James Bond Aston Martin too!
- Van Morrison’s music is the perfect accompaniment to the pictures.
Negatives:
- I have absolutely nothing here. The film is an utter joy and surely a front-runner for the Best Film Oscar.
Summary Thoughts on “Belfast”
I had the great fortune to spend 20 years working for Belfast-based companies and have come to love the city and its people. Belfast folks are a breed of their own: tough; funny; extremely loyal; single-minded and infuriatingly stubborn at times! “Belfast” is a love letter to their spirit of resilience and a tribute to “Those who left. Those who stayed. And those who were lost”.
It’s also a fond look back to a simpler time, before phones and gaming consoles when your parents would turf you out onto the street to ‘play’. For those born in the ’60s or earlier, Branagh’s movie will make you “soggy with nostalgia” (as the great Tom Lehrer once said). I’m sure she won’t mind me saying, but the nostalgia reduced the illustrious Mrs Movie Man to tearful bits by the end of the movie.
Belfast gets its UK general release on January 21st, and is (in my book) a “must see”, especially for those, like me, of mature years.
Trailer for “Belfast”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3PPOnJQ2k .
Looking forward to seeing it on Tuesday night!
Enjoy Jill… let me know if it fairly presents your city in its true light. I had a lump in my throat for both the beginning and the end!