OVP: Belfast (2021)

Film: Belfast (2021)

Stars: Jude Hill, Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench, Ciarin Hinds

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Oscar History: 7 nominations/1 win (Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor-Ciarin Hinds, Supporting Actress-Judi Dench, Original Screenplay*, Sound, Original Song-"Down to Joy")

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

A loyal reader of the blog recently asked "are you not doing reviews of 2021 movies anymore on the blog?" which was a good wakeup call to me that I was getting a bit behind in my 2021 film reviews. Admittedly, if you're following me on Letterboxd (and you should!) you might know some of my brief opinions of this week's movies, but all of this week, starting yesterday with Power of the Dog and headed into Friday, we'll be getting a different 2021 film as we move straight into not only December, but the heart of Oscar season.  It makes sense for us to catchup first with one of the movies that has the best chance of not only getting that "Oscar-nominated" stamp, but a picture that feels like it could be one of the threats for the win in a race that's (at least right now, the precursors will surely soon ruin it) a contender for taking the top prize for Best Picture: Belfast.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is about a young boy named Buddy (Hill), who lives in Belfast in 1969 during the height of the Troubles.  He alternates between spending his time with his parents, primarily his mother Ma (Balfe), as his father Pa (Dornan) is away much of the time for work, and doting on his grandparents Granny (Dench) and Pop (Hinds).  Buddy has the fascinations of a young boy, and as this is semi-autobiographical to director Kenneth Branagh, a lot of those fascinations float toward the cinema, where he feels most at-home.  The film takes on a bit of a Cinema Paradiso vibe as a result (that's a compliment from me-I love that movie despite it having some detractors due to the schmaltz), but Branagh also takes time to view the complexities of Ma & Pa's marriage, under strain from Pa's commitment to nonviolence with his Catholic neighbors, and the sadness of Pop's deteriorating health (it doesn't take a spoiler alert to let you know that not all of the adults are making it out of this one alive).

This sounds like a bit of a downer of a film, but Belfast is hardly that.  Despite its heavy subject matter, it's pretty lightweight stuff, and while it never pays lip service to the tragedies happening around young Buddy (this is not a case where you're going to feel offended that Branagh's film is spending too much time at the cinema and not enough time on the atrocities occurring around him), it is a feel-good picture with a largely happy ending for most involved, with Pa & Ma giving young Buddy a chance that he likely wouldn't have hung onto in Belfast.

This is what makes the movie successful for me (I was a fan).  Branagh's alternating between black-and-white and color feels a tad gimmicky at times (it looks good, but I thought it felt a little bit hokey), but he strikes gold with a solid cast.  Young Hill is good as our eyes into the world, but it's the adults in the cast that stood out for me.  Hinds & Dench, longtime veterans of the screen, play well off of each other, each getting their own moments to lean into their weathered personalities.  Balfe's harried mother feels appropriately heartbreaking, trying to decide between staying in the place she always pictured herself, or moving on to a new world where she might give her family a better chance.  Best of all is Jamie Dornan.  Freed of the heavy-handed storytelling of Christian Grey, he plays his Pa as a man thrust into responsibilities that he might not have been ready for.  Dornan better than anyone finds the balance of the film, alternating between the weighty subject matter and the lightness (it helps that he & Balfe get a perfect little musical moment late in the film that had the audience in my theater visibly smiling).  It's hard to tell which of this quartet will get Oscar nominations (none are assured, though it's possible all could happen), but all bring their A-Game to a breezy, successful film.