Hello everyone! Spring is trying its best to get here and honestly, it can't come soon enough. In Film Club tradition, I like to show some kind of Irish film for the month of March, for St. Patrick's Day. I wasn't quite sure what to show until one of our fellow members made a suggestion that I had completely forgot about: Kenneth Branagh's Belfast.
Belfast is a 2021 British coming of age drama film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film stars Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds, Colin Morgan and newcomer Jude Hill. The film, which Branagh has described as his "most personal film", follows a young boy's childhood in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the beginning of The Troubles in 1969. The film holds an 87% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it has been nominated for 7 Academy Awards and Cristy Lemire, writing for Rogerebert.com, gave the film 3/4 stars saying this in her review, "Belfast is unquestionably Kenneth Branagh's most personal film to date, but it's also sure to have universal resonance. It depicts a violent, tumultuous time in Northern Ireland, but it does so through the innocent, exuberant eyes of a nine-year-old boy. Within the steady hum of the threat Buddy and his family face is an impossible decision: Do they stay in this neighborhood where they've lived their whole lives, where everyone knows everyone, or do they move somewhere safer and start over? Long before the dedication that plays in front of the closing credits, we can feel Branagh's wistful heart on his sleeve."
We will be meeting Thursday, March 24th at 5:30 pm.
Here's a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3PPOnJQ2k
Hope to see you there!
