BELFAST Review — Inarguably One of the Best Films of 2021

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Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Belfast review says that once in a great while a film comes along that strikes all the right chords. From beginning to end, Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece is one of them.

Belfast reviewBelfast is a breathtaking portrait with perfect balance: joyful without being giddy, moving without being cloying, humorous without being silly and inspiring without being preachy. It’s the kind of film that anyone, of any age, identity or belief system, can enjoy without reservation and feel better for having seen it.

Writer/director Kenneth Branagh has assembled a sublimely gifted cast to tell the story of a nine-year-old boy growing up in his native Belfast during the late ’60’s, when tension between Protestants and Catholics was reaching the boiling point.

Belfast reviewYoung Buddy, played by the impossibly adorable Jude Hill (we’re talking Baby Yoda cute) looks to his family for guidance in navigating life, love, education and political upheaval.

The main adults in his life, Ma (Caitriona Balfe, much more engaging than she is in Outlander) and Pa (Jamie Dornan, whose talent goes so far beyond 50 Shades it’s almost inconceivable) are navigating their own relationship as well. Granny (Judi Dench—just when you think she can’t get any better) and Pop (Ciarán Hinds, who has appeared in literally hundreds of productions including There Will Be Blood and In Bruges, but this is the best you’ve ever seen him) also have the most poignant of relationshipsl.

Buoyed by the incomparable music of Belfast native son Van Morrison, and rendered in dramatic black and white through the lens of cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos, Branagh confessed at a press conference that these two were uniquely qualified to give him the ebullience and intimacy that he required.

Comparisons are inevitably made to Roma, another masterful director’s (Alfonso Cuarón) semi autobiographical, black and white look at boyhood in the city of his youth. While Roma is a seminal work in its own right, I think most audiences will find Belfast far more approachable and engaging. Without being erudite cinephiles, the whole family can wrap their arms around this film, and each other, leaving the theater feeling warmed, united and elevated. In these days of rabid political and generational division, it’s exactly what we need.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 37 Minutes

If this Belfast review makes you want to run (not walk) out to see it, find times and tickets on Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Belfast review says that once in a great while a film comes along that strikes all the right chords. From beginning to end, Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece is one of them.

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Lisa Johnson Mandell

Lisa Johnson Mandell is an award winning journalist, author and film/TV critic. She can be heard regularly on Cumulus radio stations throughout the US, and seen on Rotten Tomatoes. She is the author of three bestselling books, and spends as much of her free time as possible with her husband Jim and her jolly therapy Labradoodle Frankie Feldman.

1 Comments

  1. […] never has it been done so stylishly and lushly as it has now, with Kenneth Branagh producing, directing and starring as the legendary detective […]

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