Movie Review - Belfast

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 98 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan, Catriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds, Lewis McAskie
 
I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 31: AN OSCAR-WINNING MOVIE
 
Description: A young boy (Jude Hill) and his working-class Belfast family experience the tumultuous late 1960s.

Review: Actor and director Kenneth Branagh made a lot of films lately: from the flopped “Artemis Fowl” this his pompous Agatha Christie film “Death on the Nile”, which wasn’t very successful either but at least enjoyable. But with “Belfast”, Branagh really steals my heart. He based it on his own childhood in a working-class street in Belfast, where everyone knows each other and grandma and grandpa are always around.

The film is set in the late 1960s, filmed almost completely in black in white, with minimalist sets and plenty of natural light. Branagh manages to sublimely translate his memories to the silver screen.

Branagh knows how to direct his actors to great heights, as the actors fir seamlessly into his Northern Island lane. Child actor Jude Hill is the obvious heart of the film, as Buddy who is sincere, wise and naïve at the same time. And smaller roles are for “Pop” and “Gran”, played by veteran actors Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench, who were both nominated for Academy Aways for their roles. Branagh himself won an Oscar for “Most Original Screenplay”, which is well-deserved.

It's wildly clever that “Belfast” manages to create melancholy and nostalgia for a time and place that, for most viewers, is not in their own past. I loved this film.

Rating: 4,5/ 5