Review of Belfast (2021) by Rebecca31 — 31 Jan 2022

A semi-autobiographical account from Kenneth Branagh, Belfast really is as good as you've heard. I will not be surprised if this clears up at awards season and it deserves every one of them.

Buddy (Jude Hill) is a young boy living in Belfast in the late 1960s with his brother Will (Lewis McAskie) and their mother played by Caitriona Balfe. Their father played by Jamie Dornan travels overseas to work and is often away for long periods of time. Buddy is preoccupied with the normal problems of an 11-year-old all while trying to make sense of the violence happening around him during a hugely turbulent time in Belfast. Similarly to how Jojo Rabbit handled the trauma of war from a child's perspective, Belfast finds the balance between light-hearted humour and tragedy. It's funny and highly emotional. If you're the type to cry easily at movies then you may need to get the tissues ready.

Jude Hill is the shining star in Belfast, you can't help but love him, he's absolutely wonderful. Stand out performances also include Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench and Ciáran Hinds. Director Kenneth Branagh certainly knew what he was doing when he gathered the cast for Belfast. Everyone is absolutely brilliant it's easy to see how this could do very well in awards season, even Jamie Dornan who can almost be forgiven for that horrendous Irish accent in Wild Mountain Thyme. Beautifully directed in black and white with the use of colour where appropriate. I loved the references to older movies and the excitement in Buddy's face during his cinema trips. It perfectly captures the pure magic of cinema and the sense of losing yourself in a movie by completely shutting out the world around you no matter how bad things seem. Highly recommended for everyone, Belfast is not to be missed.