A jangling score and unnerving camerawork build tension in story of a woman convinced her daughter is back from the dead
Andrea Riseborough is a powerful actor who could bring emotional complexity to a tomato ketchup advert. Here she’s intense in an understated way as a grieving mother who becomes convinced that the girl next door is her daughter, back from the dead. That reincarnation storyline is not unfamiliar, and to be honest it made my heart sink a bit at first. But this atmospheric and unsettling slowburn drama from Northern Ireland pulls it off, just.
Riseborough plays a woman called Laura whose daughter Josie died several years earlier; she lives in Antrim with her husband Brendan (Jonjo O’Neill) and their teenage son Tadhg (Lewis McAskie). They are a family getting on with it, bearing the unbearable. But beneath the dinner table banter, you sense that each of them is alone with their grief.
Andrea Riseborough is a powerful actor who could bring emotional complexity to a tomato ketchup advert. Here she’s intense in an understated way as a grieving mother who becomes convinced that the girl next door is her daughter, back from the dead. That reincarnation storyline is not unfamiliar, and to be honest it made my heart sink a bit at first. But this atmospheric and unsettling slowburn drama from Northern Ireland pulls it off, just.
Riseborough plays a woman called Laura whose daughter Josie died several years earlier; she lives in Antrim with her husband Brendan (Jonjo O’Neill) and their teenage son Tadhg (Lewis McAskie). They are a family getting on with it, bearing the unbearable. But beneath the dinner table banter, you sense that each of them is alone with their grief.
- 2/15/2022
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
The plaudits for “Belfast” seem to be endless. They started in September at the Toronto film festival, where Kenneth Branagh’s coming-of-age-movie set in 1969 won the People’s Choice Award. And they’ve kept pouring in ever since, in the form of nominations from dozens of prominent critics groups and guilds. Earlier this month, SAG nominated the “Belfast” cast for best ensemble — in addition to singling out Caitriona Balfe for her impassioned turn as Ma, a no-nonsense mother of two boys caught in the crossfire of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.
The sustained recognition Balfe has been enjoying has provided an unexpected second act to her “Belfast” experience (all while upping the Oscar buzz). “It’s been such a wild ride,” the actress told TheWrap. “When we started this journey a year ago, we were shooting during the pandemic. We never really knew what was going to become of this film.
The sustained recognition Balfe has been enjoying has provided an unexpected second act to her “Belfast” experience (all while upping the Oscar buzz). “It’s been such a wild ride,” the actress told TheWrap. “When we started this journey a year ago, we were shooting during the pandemic. We never really knew what was going to become of this film.
- 1/27/2022
- by Missy Schwartz
- The Wrap
When one thinks of films by Irish director, actor, and writer Kenneth Branagh, the first word that comes to mind is “elaborate.” His directing resume alone consists of five Shakespeare adaptations, one cosmic superhero movie at Marvel, a live-action version of a classic Disney fairy tale, and a star-studded adaptation of arguably the most famous mystery novel of the 20th century. Clearly, this is a storyteller who likes to go big.
Which is what makes his new film, Belfast, so surprising in so many ways. It’s the opposite of what we’ve come to expect from a Branagh joint. Yes, it’s a period piece, but it’s in black and white. Gone are the elaborate sets, like the throne room of Asgard from Thor or the castle in Cinderella, or the Gothic laboratory from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The eye-popping costumes from any of those three films or...
Which is what makes his new film, Belfast, so surprising in so many ways. It’s the opposite of what we’ve come to expect from a Branagh joint. Yes, it’s a period piece, but it’s in black and white. Gone are the elaborate sets, like the throne room of Asgard from Thor or the castle in Cinderella, or the Gothic laboratory from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The eye-popping costumes from any of those three films or...
- 11/15/2021
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Belfast, Kenneth Branaugh’s intensely personal story of one boy’s childhood in tumultuous late 1960s Northern Ireland, earned an estimated $1.8M in 580 locations this weekend for a PTA of $3,111 – a solid showing for a black-and-white film in a specialty market that’s waging what one distribution exec calls an “an inch-by-inch, week-by-week recovery.”
The film stars Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Ciarán Hinds, Josie Walker, Jude Hill and Lewis McAskie and is Focus Features’ big Oscar contender after winning the TIFF People’s Choice Award. Belfast was also a hit with fest-goers when it premiered at Telluride. Deadline review here.
Focus said weekend polling demos were 52% female, 47% male. About 73% were age 35+, with 27% under 35. Older demos – key for specialty and arthouse films — and especially women have been the hardest to lure back into theaters. The weekend is looking like Friday – $650K; Saturday – $680k; Sunday – $470K.
The distributor said New...
The film stars Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Ciarán Hinds, Josie Walker, Jude Hill and Lewis McAskie and is Focus Features’ big Oscar contender after winning the TIFF People’s Choice Award. Belfast was also a hit with fest-goers when it premiered at Telluride. Deadline review here.
Focus said weekend polling demos were 52% female, 47% male. About 73% were age 35+, with 27% under 35. Older demos – key for specialty and arthouse films — and especially women have been the hardest to lure back into theaters. The weekend is looking like Friday – $650K; Saturday – $680k; Sunday – $470K.
The distributor said New...
- 11/14/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Belfast Review — Belfast (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan, Lewis McAskie, Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Ciaran Hinds, Nessa Eriksson, Charlie Barnard, Josie Walker, Frankie Hastings, Ian Dunnett Jnr, Michael Maloney, Rachel Feeney and Lara McDonnell. With the new film, Belfast, director Kenneth Branagh has crafted [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Belfast (2021): Kenneth Branagh’s Latest Film Is Well Acted And Heartfelt...
Continue reading: Film Review: Belfast (2021): Kenneth Branagh’s Latest Film Is Well Acted And Heartfelt...
- 11/13/2021
- by Thomas Duffy
- Film-Book
In Belfast, writer and director Kenneth Branagh paints a warm and wonderful portrait of a family in Ireland during the late 1960s, told through the perspective of its youngest member, Buddy (Jude Hill). Living through a tumultuous period, his loving parents, beloved grandparents, older brother (Lewis McAskie), and their cousins, uncles, aunts and friends spend their days playing, laughing and simply surviving in the heart of a city that...
- 11/12/2021
- by affiliates@fandango.com
- Fandango
(L to R) Jamie Dornan as “Pa”, Ciarán Hinds as “Pop”, Jude Hill as “Buddy”, and Judi Dench as “Granny” in director Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, a Focus Features release. Credit : Rob Youngson / Focus Features
Kenneth Branagh gives us one of his best films, and his most personal, with Belfast, a partly autobiographical tale of a boy in North Belfast in 1969. It is more a year-in-the-life story rather than a coming-of-age one but it is a pivotal year in many ways.
Mostly, Belfast is a child-centric comedy but it does take place in the shadow of the Irish “Troubles.” Branagh both wrote and directs Belfast, which is filled with distinctive Irish humor, biting quick-witted wordplay and colorful characters, along with childhood memories of a working class neighborhood where everyone knows everyone. This 1969 tale is mostly both funny and warm, happening against the wonder of men walking on the Moon,...
Kenneth Branagh gives us one of his best films, and his most personal, with Belfast, a partly autobiographical tale of a boy in North Belfast in 1969. It is more a year-in-the-life story rather than a coming-of-age one but it is a pivotal year in many ways.
Mostly, Belfast is a child-centric comedy but it does take place in the shadow of the Irish “Troubles.” Branagh both wrote and directs Belfast, which is filled with distinctive Irish humor, biting quick-witted wordplay and colorful characters, along with childhood memories of a working class neighborhood where everyone knows everyone. This 1969 tale is mostly both funny and warm, happening against the wonder of men walking on the Moon,...
- 11/12/2021
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, the film Belfast, is the filmmaker’s autobiographical coming-of-age story of a nine-year-old boy told amidst the tumultuous late 1960s.
Told from the perspective of Buddy, played with earnest bravado by Jude Hill, the film takes place primarily in the summer of 1969. Buddy and the rest of his Protestant family live in a tight-knit Belfast neighborhood that is unceremoniously torn apart when religious differences erupt into violence between previously content neighbors. As much as Buddy’s mother (Caitriona Balfe) and father (Jamie Dornan) try to protect him from the horrors of everyday life in Belfast, Buddy is subject to a full gamut of horrible experiences that no nine-year-old should ever have to endure. Yet, through it all he somehow manages to retain a more-or-less positive outlook on life and even the prospect of love at such a tender age.
The film’s emphasis on...
Told from the perspective of Buddy, played with earnest bravado by Jude Hill, the film takes place primarily in the summer of 1969. Buddy and the rest of his Protestant family live in a tight-knit Belfast neighborhood that is unceremoniously torn apart when religious differences erupt into violence between previously content neighbors. As much as Buddy’s mother (Caitriona Balfe) and father (Jamie Dornan) try to protect him from the horrors of everyday life in Belfast, Buddy is subject to a full gamut of horrible experiences that no nine-year-old should ever have to endure. Yet, through it all he somehow manages to retain a more-or-less positive outlook on life and even the prospect of love at such a tender age.
The film’s emphasis on...
- 11/12/2021
- by Mike Tyrkus
- CinemaNerdz
Belfast Trailer — Kenneth Branagh‘s Belfast (2021) movie trailer has been released by Focus Features. The Belfast trailer stars Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Ciaran Hinds, Lara McDonnell, Gerard Horan, Turlough Convery, Conor MacNeill, Sid Sagar, Olive Tennant, and Lewis McAskie. Crew Kenneth Branagh wrote the screenplay for Belfast. Haris Zambarloukos [...]
Continue reading: Belfast (2021) Movie Trailer: A Coming-of-age Irish drama starring Jamie Dornan & Directed by Kenneth Branagh...
Continue reading: Belfast (2021) Movie Trailer: A Coming-of-age Irish drama starring Jamie Dornan & Directed by Kenneth Branagh...
- 9/6/2021
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Coming on the heels of the Venice debut this week of Paolo Sorrentino’s memories of growing up in 1980s Naples is a trip back in time for yet another celebrated director, and of course actor: Kenneth Branagh. He revisits the memories of being 9 years old and growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, right in the middle of troubles breaking out between the Protestants and the Catholics that so ravaged the country. Like Sorrentino, Branagh says it has taken a long time, 50 years to be exact, to sort out those memories and try to put them into some (fictionalized) context that has universal meaning all these years later.
For the director, who was born in Belfast at the end of 1960, he has struck a tone of joyful family life mixed with the terrifying breakout of hostilities between the two factions that changed things forever in his neighborhood and the country,...
For the director, who was born in Belfast at the end of 1960, he has struck a tone of joyful family life mixed with the terrifying breakout of hostilities between the two factions that changed things forever in his neighborhood and the country,...
- 9/3/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
2021 SXSW Here Before Review — Here Before (2020) Video Movie Review from the 28th Annual South By Southwest Film Festival, a movie directed by Stacey Gregg, and starring Andrea Riseborough, Eileen O’Higgins, Jonjo O’Neill, Martin McCann, Lewis McAskie, Louise Mathews, Niamh Dornan, and Remi Shore. Crew Stacey Gregg wrote the screenplay for the Here [...]
Continue reading: Video Movie Review: Here Before: Andrea Riseborough’s Performance Stands out in Melodramatic Exploration of Grief & Loss [SXSW 2021]...
Continue reading: Video Movie Review: Here Before: Andrea Riseborough’s Performance Stands out in Melodramatic Exploration of Grief & Loss [SXSW 2021]...
- 5/8/2021
- by Andrew Toy
- Film-Book
Last week, Irish filmmaker Stacey Gregg celebrated the world premiere of Here Before, her psychological thriller, at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival. Starring Andrea Riseborough, Niamh Dornan, Jonjo O’Neill, Eileen O’Higgins, and Lewis McAskie, the film follows a mother named Laura (Riseborough), who becomes increasingly convinced that the little girl (Dornan) who moves in next door is the reincarnation of her own daughter who died years prior, which puts a great deal of strain on both families. But Laura’s obsession grows deeper the more time she spends with the girl, and from there, horrifying truths are revealed that forever change the dynamics of both families caught in the middle of her grief and unwavering maternal instincts.
Daily Dead recently had the opportunity to speak with Gregg about Here Before, and during the interview, she discussed her unusual approach to grief in this story, the surprise she felt when Riseborough agreed to do the project,...
Daily Dead recently had the opportunity to speak with Gregg about Here Before, and during the interview, she discussed her unusual approach to grief in this story, the surprise she felt when Riseborough agreed to do the project,...
- 3/23/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
By the time Stacey Gregg’s cofounding gaslighting thriller “Here Before” zips its way into an overstuffed final act, audiences will likely have spent some time wondering how this could have been better. Perhaps a perspective shift, or if Gregg’s script started a year earlier or a month later. Instead, we’re left to engage with what is on the screen: a great Andrea Riseborough performance (as if she knows how to turn in anything less) and an undercooked story that often pursues the least interesting possibilities.
Set in an anonymous Northern Ireland suburb, “Here Before” Laura (Riseborough) and her family endured a terrible tragedy many years before, but they’re not really thinking about their lost daughter Josie when a new clan moves in next door, complete with the precocious Megan (Niamh Dornan). Megan is cute and sweet, and she gravitates straight toward Laura, much to the chagrin...
Set in an anonymous Northern Ireland suburb, “Here Before” Laura (Riseborough) and her family endured a terrible tragedy many years before, but they’re not really thinking about their lost daughter Josie when a new clan moves in next door, complete with the precocious Megan (Niamh Dornan). Megan is cute and sweet, and she gravitates straight toward Laura, much to the chagrin...
- 3/17/2021
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
It’s easy — and understandable — for a movie about parents coping with the death of a child to slide into a glum depressive haze. Yet one granddaddy of the genre is neither glum nor depressing; it turns parental despair into something spine-tingling. “Don’t Look Now,” Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 classic of fractured anxiety, may or may not be a ghost story, but it’s most assuredly haunted. And you could say the same thing about “Here Before,” in which Andrea Riseborough plays Laura, a distraught mother in a small town in Northern Ireland who begins to suspect that her dead daughter has been reincarnated. Has Josie, who was killed in a car accident several years before (her father was at the wheel), reappeared as the new girl next door? Or is Laura making connections that aren’t there as a way to ease the impossibility of her burden?
The writer-director, Stacey Gregg,...
The writer-director, Stacey Gregg,...
- 3/17/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
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