BELFAST - Kenneth Branagh

Agent Coulson · 03-09-2021 5:22am #1

Written and directed by Academy Award® nominee Kenneth Branagh, BELFAST is a poignant story of love, laughter and loss in one boy’s childhood, amid the music and social tumult of the late 1960s. Starring Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds, and Jude Hill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3PPOnJQ2k&ab_channel=FocusFeatures

JP Liz V1 · 04-09-2021 12:39am

"Belfast is a semi-autobiographical movie based on Branagh’s upbringing in the Northern Ireland capital in the 1960s. At the Belfast Media Festival Branagh revealed: “It’s a very personal film, set partly in Belfast and partly elsewhere, partly set in the past and partly set in the present. I hope that there is humor and I hope that it’s emotional. It’s a look at a people and a place in tumult through the eyes of a nine-year-old movie-mad kid.”

An exciting black and white trailer

JP Liz V1 · 27-01-2022 12:41am

Reviews are good, plenty awards buzz, hope to see this weekend

Fandymo · 27-01-2022 12:44am

Saw it the other night, thought it was very good. Young lad who played the lead role was excellent.

santana75 · 27-01-2022 11:30pm

Saw it at the weekend and even though it started really well I just felt it descended into dreariness after that. I know the subject matter isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows but it was just unremittingly bleak and grey. Catriona balfe's character was annoying all she did was give out, cry, shout and give out some more. Ciaran hindes was excellent though as was Jamie Dornan. Overall bleak and depressing, not something I'd want to watch again.

bodhrandude · 28-01-2022 12:00am

I enjoyed it, shot in beautiful sepia-tone with the soundtrack of Van Morrison and great performances from Dench and Dornan and all the other actors and actresses.

Fandymo · 28-01-2022 12:02am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543361#Comment_118543361

The mother was single handedly raising two young boys in tinderbox Belfast with barricades on both ends of the street with huge tax bills hanging over her families heads while her hubby is away in England working and gambling.

Did you want her singing like Mary Poppins throughout??

28-01-2022 12:15am

A really beautiful film. 10/10 for me. Cant understand how anyone would describe it as dreary. Considering it was set in the midst of the troubles it was actually heartwarming. I thought the relationship between Buddy and his grandparents, in particular, his grandad played by Ciaran Hinds was absolutely magical. Really heartwarming.

Some interesting facts.

1 Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench play a married couple when in fact, in reality Judy Dench (87) is 19 years Hinds senior (68)

2 Jamie Dornan is only miming 'Everlasting love' to the actual song performed by the Love Affair (sang by Steve Ellis). although im guessing that most people figured this.

santana75 · 28-01-2022 11:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543438#Comment_118543438

At one stage Jamie Dornan's character was talking to his sons about moving the Australia. The wife comes in and immediately puts a downer on things........she was a pain. Victor Frankl wrote a great book, Man's search for meaning where he concluded, that no matter what your external circumstances you always have a choice on how you respond. The wife in this movie responded by complaining, giving out and in general being negative.

Fandymo · 28-01-2022 11:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543464#Comment_118543464

He actually sang it live at the premiere party.

biketard · 28-01-2022 11:50am

Saw this a couple of nights ago and really liked it. I was born in Belfast in 1970, so found a lot of it very nostalgic (I realise it was set just before I was born!)

ancapailldorcha · 28-01-2022 12:22pm

I loved it. Probably the best film I'll see all year.

Fandymo · 28-01-2022 12:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544642#Comment_118544642

The film is set in the 1960's. Australia is 10,662 miles away from everything she's ever known, in a time with no internet, no affordable flights. SOciety was an awful lot more insular back then. Maybe someone growing up on the back streets of Belfast hadn't read Man's Search for Meaning (an excellent book btw).

lucalux · 28-01-2022 3:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544642#Comment_118544642

You're criticising Kenneth Branagh's actual mother, since that is the 'character' that Catriona Balfe is playing.

Seems odd to me but, yes, maybe young Kenneth Branagh should have gone down to the local library, gotten the Viktor Frankl book for his Mam, and told her to read it and not be such a pain 😄

ancapailldorcha · 28-01-2022 3:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545156#Comment_118545156

I'd agree with this. Even now, the level of ignorance prevalent here with regards to Northern Ireland is staggering.

johnny_ultimate · 28-01-2022 4:28pm

I wasn't a fan, alas. I felt it was rose-tinted to the point of toothless - not that everything has to be super edgy or anything like that, but this really felt like it had all the rough edges smoothed down completely. All the characters were that bit too one-dimensional for my taste. I've seen this type of affectionate 'cine-memoir' many times before, and this one - outside of a different setting - really didn't have much new to offer.

One of the big problems is how stagey it felt. Social realism or even neorealism needs a bit of grit or at least earthiness: it needs to feel real. Here, the street where most of the drama takes place felt like a film set, not a real place. It just doesn't convince, even when we give it the benefit of being a purposefully romanticised recollection of childhood. From what I can see that set was built on an abandoned runway outside London - alas, that shows. I also think Donald Clarke put it well when he said the opening credit sequence feels like a Fáilte Ireland ad rather than an actual look at modern Belfast.

It's not all bad. I think Balfe is really good, although Dornan is just that bit too squeaky-clean and one-dimensional of a screen presence. Hinds and Dench are very fine actors, but again their characters suffer from being a bit too perfect. That's partially Branagh's own fond memories of his own family (which he's absolutely entitled to!), but to me it doesn't make for particularly interesting cinema.

The film's at its strongest when it takes the perspective of childhood wide-eyed wonder - the flashes of colour when experiencing the magic of cinema or theatre. A little more stylistic rigour in sticking with that perspective IMO would have made quite a bit of difference. I found the technical filmmaking rather haphazard on the whole, but it at least has a bit of energy and enthusiasm behind it even when the actual construction is shaky.

I happily confess to generally just not being much of a fan of these sentimental childhood dramas (see also: Cinema Paradiso). My opinion has also admittedly been coloured by recently watching 1981's Maeve, which to me is a much more insightful film about Northern Ireland a few decades ago (albeit set 10 or so years after this - a lot changed in ten years). So yeah, a certain amount of this is just 'not for me'.

santana75 · 28-01-2022 5:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118546181#Comment_118546181

Thats interesting because it seems as though you're saying we're not allowed criticize a character in a movie. She gave out a lot, she complained, she acted in a very negative way, then gave out some more.......this is how the character acted in the film. Its almost as if you dont like the fact that how she behaved is being pointed out??? To me, watching that film, she was a pain, a very negative and not all that likeable, character.

Did you smash it · 28-01-2022 8:55pm

Some obviously enjoyed it. I thought it was twee, obvious and a wannabe button pusher flick that didn’t push any buttons….and god help me but that kid was the most annoying screen presence in many’s a year.

lucalux · 29-01-2022 4:53am

I didn't say we're not allowed criticise a character, but more that it's a representation of a real life human being, who are invariably flawed as opposed to written characters oftentimes.

I also think your opinion that if someone reads Viktor Frankl, that they might be suddenly transported from their unhappiness, and be a better person.

There are a lot of imperfect people in the world, Kenneth Branagh is writing his mother as such a one, and these characters are plentiful in life. There aren't many (that I know in life at least) who have Viktor Frankl's fortitude. I read the book several times from a young age, but I've also been emotional and a pain in the arse to others around me no doubt.

No I was just expressing an opinion that you thought a character was unlikeable, and I thought, the character is indispensable to the story.

There's no stopping either of us from having our opinions or criticisms (thank goodness!)

29-01-2022 9:04am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118546509#Comment_118546509

Very much agree with your take, just a polished and pretty flat experience. The old Jimmy McGovern Drama The Street has much more of a bite and realism in a similar setting, that this just didnt have for me.

Harryd225 · 30-01-2022 3:23am

Haven't seen the film yet but I've heard so many good things about the movie and it's apparently set to win Oscars, yet from reading thread it's s**** apparently.

fritzelly · 30-01-2022 3:59am

Enjoyed it - the kid is great and his scenes make the movie

Can't say there is much of a story beyond what lot's of people have experienced growing up at that time (funnily enough Australia was being looked at when I was like 7ish years old). Life was crap for a lot of people in the 70's so the film isn't anything special in that area

Xander10 · 30-01-2022 4:38pm

I lasted 40 mins and gave up. Like others, it just wasn't for me.

billyhead · 30-01-2022 8:00pm

Like some other posters I was bored after about 45 minutes. I don't understand all the hype.

homerun_homer · 31-01-2022 10:38am

I’m glad it isn’t just me who wasn't bowled over by it. My family left the North in the late 70s due to the troubles, so I was hoping I'd really like the film. Ciaran Hinds was the my favourite part of it. It was twee, and I thought the style could be a bit all over the shop at times. Between it's flourishes of colour, the music set piece at the funeral, to the awkward close up on Judi Dench that was like an attempt at something more arthouse by Branagh as it ended. I couldn't shake that it just looked like it was filmed on the equivalent of a Fair City set, with it's limited range for exploring the neighbourhood.

In terms of the colour elements, this mainly works when you know the kid is a substitute for Branagh, and this was like an awakening. However, it happens a few times too many, and most of the focus is not about him being affected by it, such as the play of Scrooge where the focus was kept on his granny. It's neither a great kitchen sink drama that digs a little deeper in to how the troubles affects a family & neighbourhood community, nor is it a great film about childhood innocence in the midst of the troubles. It was a mish mash, and was just grand. For 90 minutes in length I did feel some impatience with it.

Higgins5473 · 31-01-2022 10:45am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118555403#Comment_118555403

I'm fairly confused by all the adulation it is receiving, and it seems to be predominantly from the print media and radio reviews. I was thoroughly looking forward to this based upon all I had read and heard. I thought it was atrocious, unwatchable. Anyone I've spoken to subsequently that has seen it has said the same thing, a few family members didn't last more than an hour. One of the worst films I can recall seeing.

pixelburp · 03-02-2022 8:21am

It's probably not a good reflection of any film when I'm thinking of another during a viewing: specifically, John Boorman's Hope & Glory. That 1987 film better captured the weird mix of war or upheaval within seen through the eyes of a child; instead, here, Belfast seemed a little trapped by its director's obvious fondness and sentimentality towards his (lost?) childhood. To be fair, it was a handsome creature to look at on occasion, the small splashes of colour during escapes to the cinema a nice touch - but there was no contrast to this, no true counterpoint of horror to balance the wonder. Bar two, slightly neutered scenes, "The Troubles" never ... uh, troubled the young protagonists - not to the degree Hope and Glory surrounded its child lead with the grim reality of The Blitz.

Cluedo Monopoly · 03-02-2022 8:36am

I had not realised it was about Brannagh but I heard it was a good movie. However I was bored very early on. Hinds and Balfe were good but an utterly forgettable movie.

kirk. · 03-02-2022 8:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543434#Comment_118543434

Thats enough to put me off going .Van soundtrack

BaywatchHQ · 08-02-2022 7:45pm

I have no interest in seeing a film about Belfast, I live 45 minutes from it and have always disliked that place, the accent, the look of it and the general misery of it. I also have had many bad experiences with Belfast people, they always seem to have such aggressive loud personalities. I probably would have watched if it was about a Nationalist family but I have no intention of watching a film about unionist characters. Call me a bigot if you want, life is short and I hear enough of them on the news every night without spending time listening to them in a film.

SCOOP 64 · 08-02-2022 8:01pm

Found it very boring, i never gain interest in the story line.

Harryd225 · 08-02-2022 9:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118602179#Comment_118602179

I think it would have been far more interesting if the film was about a nationalist family seeing as though the film centres on Catholics being driven from their homes around that time but then again the film was about Kenneth and his personal experience growing up in Belfast.

I still found it to be a good film nonetheless, nothing special but decent enough.

Wrongway1985 · 09-02-2022 2:06am

I liked it, sure it's nothing ground breaking but the troubles are just a background to the picture they are ongoing at the time but the young fella is oblivious. Balfe performance was standout so given the films appeal very unlucky to not add an Academy Award nomination to her recognition elsewhere.

I heard Dornan sang Everlasting Love at some event or is that hearsay? If he was so able why the obvious mime in the film, missed opp.

HildaOgdenx · 23-02-2022 5:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543464#Comment_118543464

Saw it this week. Really enjoyed it.

I adored Buddy, and the grandad, in particular.

NIMAN · 23-02-2022 7:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118552943#Comment_118552943

It's this year's Nomadland.

pixelburp · 23-02-2022 7:48pm

It was said by someone else but I think the story would have worked better were the main family Catholic. I think Branagh's closeness to the story, being vaguely adapted from his own life, got in the way of the more obvious, dramatically interesting version of the tale. Being a Catholic family would have made The Troubles more immediate, dangerous; the shielding of Buddy from those horrors more poignant. Instead, it all felt inert for being a choice to leave.

23-02-2022 10:37pm

Caitriona Balfe looks lovely.

mary 2021 · 25-02-2022 1:25pm

It was a self indulgent piece on Belfast by Kenneth Brannagh and its a nice film, easy watch easy forget but good to see belfast getting some very positive attention, long over due.