TIFF 2021: Belfast Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Every once in a while, audiences come across films that are clearly something special and Belfast is certainly one of those films. Short but sweet, clocking in at 90+ minutes, this passion project for actor/writer/director Kenneth Branagh is a love letter to his family and childhood and city of Belfast is a wholesome and emotional coming-of-age story that is sure to impact most audiences who will find themselves feeling for and cheering on its titular family. From beautiful cinematography to a great score and soundtrack and a stellar script, this certified crowd-pleaser perhaps plays it safe in terms of checking all the right boxes to appeal to all the award prognosticators (and it will likely be nominated for and/or win a fair share of them) but the way that it packs so much within its short running time is nothing less than impressive. Though it of course probably could have done more, that balance and flow is a tough thing to manage.

Belfast follows a young boy named Buddy (Jude Hill) and his working class family as they try to navigate through the tumultuous time that was 1960s where the Protestant and Catholic populations within Belfast and Ireland were at war with one another. Finding hope in all that despair was a daunting task but Buddy was a constant source of light within the darkness. The film essentially saw him growing up in front of our eyes which did have its moments that allowed him to be young. Luckily for him, he had a great support system to at least shield him from everything else. His Ma (Balfe) and Pa (Dornan) were often at their wits’ end with the stress of supporting and protecting their family through the current civil war and into the future while allowing their children to have a childhood. Meanwhile, his Pop (Ciarán Hinds) and Granny (Dench) added some much needed warmth as they cared deeply for their family. Despite everything else, family is what mattered most. While times may have been tough, they had each other and it’s hard to not feel the power of that.

Technically sound and superbly written, the excellent performances and chemistry across the board helped round out Belfast nicely. Balfe was a powerful yet calming force who commanded every scene as the matriarch of the family while Dornan’s trademark charm did wonders here as Buddy’s father and his singing certainly didn’t hurt either. Hinds and Dench as the grandparents were each delights with the latter stealing scenes with her sharp delivery. However the biggest takeaway will likely be Hill in his first film role. Not only was he cute but his sheer youthful energy and enthusiasm were so compelling to watch as the main grounding force of the film.

In the end, Belfast is definitely a special one. Bring tissues.

 still courtesy of Focus Features

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.