Kenneth Branagh’s BELFAST Is A Loosely Autobiographical Charmer

Opening today exclusively in the Triangle at the Rialto Theater in Raleigh:

BELFAST (Dir. Kenneth Branagh, 2021)

Kenneth Branagh’s 19th film as Director, but only second as writer, is one of his best films.

Set in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1969, the story concerns life in the time of “The Troubles,” a long-running conflict that pitted the Catholics against the Protestants. The riots that result, as well as the reactions of the townspeople are seen through the eyes of Buddy (Jude Hill), a 9-year old who witnesses a violent mob infiltrating his neighborhood in the film’s opening sequence.

Buddy’s Pa (Jamie Dornan), and Ma (Caitríona Balfe), have friction over whether they should relocate, as Pa commutes to England for work and wants his family with him. Ma doesn’t want to leave because she’s emotionally attached to her home since birth. More interesting is Buddy’s grandparents, Granny (Judi Dench), and Pop (Ciarán Hinds). Pop’s love advice to Buddy, harboring a crush on a classmate (Olive Tennant), oozes with wisdom and charm. I wish Dench were given more to do, but her dour appearance fits in authentically with the material.

Buddy falls into a bad crowd, well, mainly one member of a bad crowd really, Moira (Lara McDonnell) who tries to train him how to shoplift. This makes for an amusing scene in a local shop in which a frantic Buddy steals Turkish Delight, which he doesn’t even like. Dornan’s Pa has his neck breathed down heavily by the sinister Protestant rioter Billy Clanton (a perfectly cast, and effective Colin Morgan), who wants Pa (really, that’s how he’s credited) to join and be loyal to the cause.

Watching Buddy amble around his historically bleak environs may strike some as reminiscent of JOJO RABBIT, but, while there is a good deal of humor in BELFAST, it’s more grounded and less goofy. Completely different in its sentimental tone as well.

Although BELFAST is a black and white picture, it’s a nice touch that when the family goes to the movies, the scenes we see from CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, AND ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. are in color. There are other color moments as well.

The film is appropriately awash in mostly classic tracks by Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, including a new song, “Down to Joy.” The new tune is being talked about as a possible Oscar nominee, despite that it dates back to the early ‘70s. I guess because it was unreleased, re-recorded for the movie, and its title is slightly re-worded, it qualifies.

Even with feel-good contrivances such as how a confrontation with Clanton is thwarted, and Dornan’s rendition of the pop standard “Everlasting Love,” which I thought had to be someone else’s singing, but I was wrong), BELFAST is a modestly moving movie that’s optimistic about peace, families sticking together, and how childhood is a precursor to a complicated life. All of the cast are exceptional, but Hill as the conflicted kid in the middle of it all, puts in a convincing performance that provides the film with its heart. He's one to look out for.

Brangh, who considers this his most personal work, has produced a touching, loosely autobiographical period piece that ought to satisfy independent film audiences, and simply entertain whomever it happens upon. Expect BELFAST to get lots of awards season action (in fact, it already has).

More later...

 

Branagh's Misguided MURDER & More THOR

And now, catching up with a couple of movies currently playing at every multiplex:

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

(Dir. Kenneth Branagh, 2017)

Kenneth Branagh takes on the directing duties, and the starring role of Detective Hercule Poirot in this fourth adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1934 bestselling novel, which never leaves the shadow of Sydney Lumet’s 1974 version.

In that first adaptation, Albert Finney is initially unrecognizable as Poirot with his slicked-back black hair, outrageous mustache, and stodgy demeanor, but the blond Branagh just looks like himself, only with similarly exaggerated facial hair. His accent, an attempt at a thick Belgian brogue, even disappears a number of times.

Branagh’s Poirot fronts a cast comprised of A-listers Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Penélope Cruz, and Judi Dench, alongside lesser known names such as Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Olivia Colman, Lucy Boynton, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Tom Bateman.

Yeah, it’s a big ensemble, so, as can be guessed, most of these players gets a limited amount of screen-time so if you’re a Depp fan, be warned that his role is a glorified cameo at best.

Especially since Depp, as rich businessman Samuel Ratchett, is the murder victim so he’s a corpse throughout the bulk of the picture. As the well worn mystery trope goes, the rest of the cast all have dark connections to Rachett, which means tons of motives, and Poirot interrogates the suspects one by one for his investigation.

This all takes place while the train has been stranded on its route by an avalanche and they have to wait for help to arrive. Unlike MURDER ’74, Branagh takes the passengers off of the train for a lot of the second half, and even stages the big reveal in the exterior of the tunnel the train has been stalled in front of.

This movie is full of such visual choices – the camera swoops over snowy mountaintops, cranes from the bottom to the top of the frame while its subjects stay in the middle of the show, and, most annoyingly, films two entire scenes from directly overhead. As gorgeous as much of the scenery shot by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos is, these show-off moves distract from the story and make what could’ve been a tense gritty remake into something that looks like a glossy magazine spread.

But the most frustrating thing about Branagh’s take on the 83-year old story is how he botches the conclusion so that it has precious little impact. The construction of the big reveal is as rickety as the CGI bridge the train is trapped on. Branagh, working from a screenplay by Michael Green (BLADE RUNNER 2049, LOGAN), has fashioned a self indulgent, yet pretty looking muddle out of Christie’s most famous whodunit.

It just doesn’t hold a candle to what Lumet did with this material in ’74. Consider the superiority of that film’s all-star cast – Finney’s Poirot is joined by Lauren Bacall, Anthony Perkins, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York, John Gielgud, and Jacqueline Bisset (if you younger readers don’t know these names - spend some time with movies made before STAR WARS) - the infinitely sharper script by Oscar winning screenwriter Paul Dehn, and its suitably claustrophobic interiors which are free of any visual trickery.

So obviously, my recommendation is to skip Branagh’s misguided MURDER ‘17, and seek out Lumet’s much classier ’74 version. I bet it’ll make for a more satisfying experience, and you will be spared about how this new one so cynically sets up a sequel - Poirot gets a message at the end from Egypt about being needed to investigate a death on the Nile (get it?).

THOR: RAGNARAK
(Dir. Taika Waititi, 2017)

We’re now halfway through Phrase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie franchise, so here’s the third installment of the THOR adventures, currently # 1 at the box office, which I enjoyed a lot more than the first two (the first one was directed by Branagh incidentally).

THOR: The Film Babble Blog Review

THOR (Dir. Kenneth Branaugh, 2011)

(Warning: This review may contain Spoilers!)

Summer doesn't officially begin until late June, but the summer movie season began last week with the opening of the franchise front-runner FAST FIVE. However the season doesn't really feel like it's underway until a big-ass superhero flick swoops in, so today we get us the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: THOR.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a cocky (and somewhat douchey) Norse God who lives in the splendiforic golden CGI-ed city of Asgard off in the heavens above, in another realm, or something.

Thor's father, the King of their realm, played with his patented gravely gravitas by Anthony Hopkins, is ready to let his son take the throne, but an attack by a gang of scaly skinned creepy creatures called Frost Giants throws that plan out of whack.

The Frost Giants steal the source of Asgard's power "the Casket of Ancient Winters." Defying their father, Thor and his brother (Tom Hiddleston) go after their frigid foes into their icy realm, along with their gung-ho troop of hearty warriors (Tadanobu Asano, Joshua Davis, Ray Stevenson, and Jaimie Alexander).

A busy and bombarding battle goes down, which doesn't please Hopkins so he banishes his son to Earth, and throws his hammer of power down there with him.

It then becomes a bit of a fish out of water story with Thor meeting up with a trio of scientific researchers in a desert in New Mexico where he crash lands - Natalie Portman (much more animated than in YOUR HIGHNESS), a befuddled Stellan Skarsgård, and the wise-cracking Kat Dennings - who take him in as they just happen to be up on Nordic mythology.

Thor's predicament is that he has to fight through a military instillation that has surrounded his mighty hammer in the desert since, like the Arthurian legend, it can not be removed by just anyone.

The film gets bogged down in noisy fight scenes and impenetrable exposition that I couldn't follow recognize the weight of, but since I don't know the comic from which this is based, that stuff may mean a lot more to the hardcore. I mean, I get that Thor must fight his brother Hiddleston, who turns out to be half Frost Giant I guess, and take on a giant destructive robot in order to restore the kingdom of Asgard and awaken his father from some deep sparkling golden slumber, I think.

It was hard to follow or care about this because Hemsworth has little charisma or believability in the role, and his being paired with Portman is forced and fairly chemistry-less.

Those elements don't completely cripple THOR, because on the surface it's a serviceable super hero movie with plenty of fast paced action that folks just wanting mindless thrills will likely go for.

It's also fun to see how the Marvel movies are building what my fellow local entertainment writer friend Zack Smith calls an "uber continuity" with Clark Gregg reprising his role as Agent Coulson from IRON MAN 1 & 2, a cameo by Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, and an after the end-credits scene, which I won't spoil, but will just say that it foreshadows events to come in THE AVENGERS, so stay until the very end.

I was very surprised to see that this was directed by Kenneth Branaugh because in retrospect except for some nuanced acting from a few members of the cast, there is precious little in this assembly line formula that could be reasonably attributed to him.

While I normally avoid 3-D, I didn't have a choice with the advance screening I saw of this. I didn't get a headache, but apart from a few scattered arresting visuals, the 3-D added very little.

THOR is bombastic and in your face enough without such enhancement, but I bet kids of all ages will eat it up in whatever format.

More later...