{"id":39977,"date":"2021-11-12T12:11:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T12:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=39977"},"modified":"2021-11-12T12:11:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T12:11:32","slug":"belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in a Heartfelt Oscar Frontrunner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Caitriona
Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench, Jude Hill and Lewis McAskie in Belfast<\/i> (Photo: Rob Youngson\/Focus Features)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I think of Kenneth Branagh, the unfortunate truth is I tend to think of his truly histrionic 1994 adaptation of Frankenstein<\/em>. There\u2019s a particular scene in which Branagh, Helena Bonham Carter<\/a>, et. al., are running across the front lawn of their manor house carrying the body of someone who\u2019s been killed by the Creature (Robert De Niro!), wailing in truly operatic fashion. Like, they may as well be gnashing their teeth and rending their garments, it\u2019s that hilariously overwrought. For the past decade or so, he\u2019s mostly used that flair for overstatement in the service of Hollywood blockbuster IP: Thor<\/em> (2011), Cinderella <\/em>(2015), Murder on the Orient Express <\/em>(2017), Artemis Fowl <\/em>(2020).<\/p>\n

Belfast<\/em>, his latest film is a far more intimate affair. Shot mostly in black and white and based on Branagh\u2019s own childhood in Northern Ireland, the film is a bit of a throwback to the kind of coming-of-age movies that have been mostly muscled out of the multiplexes by\u2026well, by the sort of movies Branagh himself has been directing for the past decade, actually. Wee Jude Hill stars as wee Buddy, a precocious lad growing up in the late 1960s on a harmoniously mixed Catholic and Protestant street in Belfast. We\u2019re introduced to that bustling residential street, and to Buddy\u2019s world, in a long opening tracking shot that plays a bit like the opening number of a musical. Kids running about, parents smiling, neighbors chatting, Van Morison playing.<\/p>\n

Branagh doesn\u2019t let us linger in this idyllic scene for long though. No sooner is Buddy called home for supper by his Ma (Caitr\u00edona Balfe) than a mob arrives and a riot targeting the street\u2019s Catholic residents breaks out. We\u2019re in the thick of The Troubles, and the conflict provides the film\u2019s backdrop. Buddy\u2019s Pa (a soulful Jamie Dornan), who works \u201cover the water\u201d in England, wants out of Northern Ireland. There\u2019s a local tough (Colin Morgan) trying to enlist him in the effort to cleanse Belfast of Catholics, but he wants no part of the escalating violence. Ma, on the other hand, can\u2019t imagine life away from the only home she\u2019s ever known. Buddy, meanwhile, wants nothing more than to be the best footballer in the world and to marry his classroom crush.<\/p>\n

\"Balfe
Balfe and Dornan in Belfast<\/i> (Photo: Rob Youngson\/Focus Features)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Belfast<\/em> is a memory of Branagh\u2019s childhood, and as such the story is told largely from Buddy\u2019s 9-year-old perspective. We see the barricades at the end of the block and catch glimpses of the civil unrest on TV. But the film is more concerned with the family drama in Buddy\u2019s home. There are decisions to be made. Buddy puzzles over a parable about a forked path, as told by a particularly bellicose pastor; one virtuous road leading to salvation, the other to hell. For Ma and Pa, the choices are more immediate: should they stay or should they go now? And whatever they decide, can they keep their family from falling apart?<\/p>\n

Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos does some lovely work with natural light. In a couple different scenes, he allows the sunshine filtering in through windows to dim and then suddenly brighten again, not to punctuate a particularly meaningful line, but just as it would in real life, as clouds drift across the Irish sky briefly obscuring the sun on a windy day. It has the feel of a sense memory, the kind of thing that sticks with you for no particular reason when you recall a last conversation with a loved one.<\/p>\n

That kind of detail is truly lovely, and the performances by Balfe and Dornan\u2014not to mention Ciar\u00e1n Hinds and Judi Dench as Buddy\u2019s grandparents\u2014are heartfelt. Ultimately, though, Belfast <\/em>is a fairly standard, inoffensive coming-of-age film, an exercise in Boomer-era nostalgia that is, nonetheless, sure to appeal to a certain significant faction of Oscar voters. There will be\u2014perhaps unfairly\u2014comparisons to Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n\u2019s Roma<\/em>. Like that 2018 film, Belfast <\/em>is already considered a frontrunner for Best Picture. Branagh may not have reinvented cinema here, but if his film does win the top prize at the Oscars<\/a>, it wouldn\u2019t exactly be cause for gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29097,"featured_media":39978,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[38,3324,16],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in an Inoffensive Oscar Frontrunner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shot mostly in black and white and based on Kenneth Branagh\u2019s own childhood in Northern Ireland, Belfast is a bit of a throwback to the kind of coming-of-age movies that have been mostly muscled out of the multiplexes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in a Heartfelt Oscar Frontrunner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shot mostly in black and white and based on Kenneth Branagh\u2019s own childhood in Northern Ireland, Belfast is a bit of a throwback to the kind of coming-of-age movies that have been mostly muscled out of the multiplexes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grazia USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/belfast-108_4184_D023_00261_rgb.jpg?resize=1024,666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in an Inoffensive Oscar Frontrunner\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-12T12:11:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-12T12:11:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"Shot mostly in black and white and based on Kenneth Branagh\u2019s own childhood in Northern Ireland, Belfast is a bit of a throwback to the kind of coming-of-age movies that have been mostly muscled out of the multiplexes.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in a Heartfelt Oscar Frontrunner\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/\",\"name\":\"Grazia USA\",\"description\":\"Driving tastemakers in Fashion, Beauty and Culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in an Inoffensive Oscar Frontrunner","description":"Shot mostly in black and white and based on Kenneth Branagh\u2019s own childhood in Northern Ireland, Belfast is a bit of a throwback to the kind of coming-of-age movies that have been mostly muscled out of the multiplexes.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in a Heartfelt Oscar Frontrunner","og_description":"Shot mostly in black and white and based on Kenneth Branagh\u2019s own childhood in Northern Ireland, Belfast is a bit of a throwback to the kind of coming-of-age movies that have been mostly muscled out of the multiplexes.","og_url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/","og_site_name":"Grazia USA","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":666,"url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/belfast-108_4184_D023_00261_rgb.jpg?resize=1024,666","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/","url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/","name":"\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in an Inoffensive Oscar Frontrunner","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-11-12T12:11:32+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-12T12:11:32+00:00","description":"Shot mostly in black and white and based on Kenneth Branagh\u2019s own childhood in Northern Ireland, Belfast is a bit of a throwback to the kind of coming-of-age movies that have been mostly muscled out of the multiplexes.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/belfast-review-jamie-dornan-kenneth-branagh-oscar\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Belfast\u2019 Review: Jamie Dornan Stars in a Heartfelt Oscar Frontrunner"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/","name":"Grazia USA","description":"Driving tastemakers in Fashion, Beauty and Culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Grazia USA","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/39977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}