Review of Belfast (2021) by Stefan1234 — 22 Jan 2022

This is not a dramatic film. There is no narrative tension, conflict (other than that involving "The Troubles" subject matter, which we know about) or much depth of character. In the nicest possible way it is music video, mainly for Van Morrison, and several scenes are driven, or constructed, to some of his songs.

There are also references to song titles in the dialogue, not just Van Morrison's and lyrics from other artists' songs in the dialogue. Branagh is trying to see how far he can go dropping lyrics and song titles into this film without anyone noticing.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned it. Once you realise that this is musical love letter you won't be wondering, as I did, why this is so predictable and lacking in any suspense.