This is a poignant story of love, laughter and loss in one boy's, Buddy (Jude Hill) childhood, amid the music and social tumult of the late 1960's. The backdrop to this story was the Catholic/Protestant civil unrest in the 1960's which caused all in that community to endure having to walk on eggs just to live or co-exist with each other. Buddy and his family, Pa (Jamie Dornan ), Ma (Caitriona Balfe), Pop (Ciaran Hinds), Granny (Judi Dench) and Will (Lewis McAskie) all, in their own lives, have to be able to endure the times of the riotous Belfast civil unrest with passion, compassion, endurance and strength at a time when those attributes are difficult to hold on to when one needs them the most.
Others to round out the cast are Josie Walter as Auntie Violet, Freya Yates as Cousin Frances, Nessa Eriksson as Cousin Vanessa, Charlie Earnard as Cousin Charlie, Frankie Hastings as Auntie Mary, Michael Maloney as Frankie West and Ian Dunnett Jr. as Uncle Tony.
This was brilliantly and poignantly directed by veteran Kenneth Branagh ("Henry V" '89, "Dead Again" '91, "Much Ado About Nothing" '93, "Mary Shelley"s Frankenstein" '94, "Hamlet" '96, "As You Like It" '06, "Sleuth" '07, "Thor" '11, "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" '14, "Cinderella" '15, "Murder on the Orient Express" '17, "All Is True" '18, "Artemis Fowl" '20) plus other films and shorts. Considering the resume this filmmaker has, I feel he is today's William Shakespeare with the films that are either based on his work or certainly has that similar feel. he simply knows how to bring his characters to life with passion and pathos unlike a lot of directors are unable to pull off. If you like the crispness and clarity of this director, his "Death on the Nile" is completed for a 2022 release. It is equally well written by Branagh ("Henry V" '89, "Much Ado About Nothing" '93, "A Midwinter's Tale" '95, "Hamlet" '96, "Love's Labour's Lost" 2000, "As You Like It" '06, "The Magic Flute" '06) plus a short. Although he doesn't have a tremendous amount of writing experience, for what he has is quality and is spot on. He truly captured the essence of these different characters and their distinctive attributes, and truly knows his way around a script. He can take a minimal amount of running time and bring his audience into a world that isn't, in and of itself, is a complex storyline, but the way he pens his screenplays he can take an otherwise common story and, all of a sudden, it truly sings and grips the audience. This could easily pick up some Oscar nominations including best picture, Branagh as director, Haris Zambarloukos bsc/csc for cinematography and possibly Judi Dench for supporting actress.
If artfully well crafted films are your type thing, this will delight. This is not for the mass audience appeal, specifically if explosive films are more your desire. It does have some explosive moments--it does take place in a civil unrest, but this is more than a backdrop to the film being more about life through the perspective of this small boy and his family and his neighborhood. This is a must see simply because of the sheer quality of how this was crafted.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG-13 97mins.
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