Small Things Like These (2024), Dir Tim Mielants, Lionsgate, mac Birmingham, 5✩✩✩✩✩. Review: Matthew Alicoon.
Small Things Like These (2024), Dir Tim Mielants, Lionsgate, mac Birmingham, 5✩✩✩✩✩. Review: Matthew Alicoon.
Cinema – Drama – History
“A masterclass in the art of understatement.”
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Based on the novel by Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These takes place in Christmas 1985 and follows devoted father Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy) who uncovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent, whilst managing his own personal grief too. The film focuses on the devastating Magdalene laundry operations.
Small Things Like These is a masterclass in conveying emotional complexity with a restraint that speaks volumes, when saying very little. This is a film, that knows exactly when it needs to speak and most importantly when to stay silent. Director Tim Mielands crafts a convincing slow-burn narrative, that takes its time to unravel. However, every significant detail builds towards a reflective and concentrated experience. The masterly nuances enhance character emotions ominously. The confidence Edna Walsh brings to the screenplay is resounding. Small Things Like These does not need to shout its messages, trusting the audience to feel the emotional heft of the story without being too expositive. There is a subtle brilliance with how the narrative leaves gaps, allowing you to piece character complexities together without the film ever feeling jarring.
What an acting gravitas. Where do I even start with Cillian Murphy except just WOW. Cillian Murphy’s portrayal of Bill Furlong is a masterclass in understatement. His facial expressions and eyes, dazzle with raw and empathetic emotional depth. Cillian becomes the character of Bill Furlong and the transparent silence is deafening, a deliberate choice that turns scenery into a rigorous emotional experience, communicating his multifaceted darkness and trauma. The cinematography from Frank van den Eeden lets Cillian Murphy take centre stage, positioning the the chaos around him that amplifies the character isolations.
Eileen Walsh as Bill’s Wife, Eileen, provides arguably the most unassuming performance of the film. Eileen Walsh juggles the divergence of right or wrong. Emily Watson as Sister Mary manages to convey a strikingly quiet malevolent force with evocatively alarming dialogue deliveries. Watson provokes a horror-villain maliciousness archetype. Going back to the screenplay’s confidence, the film does not need to make her villainous actions explicit. The scene between Emily Watson and Cillian Murphy is pulse-pounding filled to the brim with tension.
There is a quiet, haunting quality to Zara Devlin’s performance with her pain feeling palpable in every frame. Devlin’s performance provokingly lets us feel the horrors of the laundries. Louis Kirwan portrays Young Bill Furlong and is a remarkable and enigmatic screen presence in conveying Bill’s dramatic childhood. Louis Kirwan and Elliot Heffernan have turned in two of the finest performances from a young newcomer this year. The performances from Liadán Dunlea, Giulia Doherty, Rachel Lynch, Aoife Gaffney and Faye Brazil as Bill’s daughters, give a naturalistic portrayal of the family life. There is an authenticity within the family dynamic that feels rare.
The narrative deals with past traumas, however it does so in a way that carries echoes of a ghost story at times. The town Bill Furlong lives in feels like a plague, that is wrapped in its own history of suffering and guilt. The moral compasses of tension between doing the right thing and being terrified of the consequences are magnificently enriched throughout the film. Editor Alain Dessauvage manages to seamlessly blend the past and present timelines, enhancing the poignant resonance of the narrative. You feel like Bill’s past is always present, hanging over him at every moment. Therefore, Small Things Like These represents how trauma can never truly be gone, no matter how far back it goes.
The morality of the Magdalene laundries is struck with a perplexing allure, that lingers with you when the credits roll. Intriguingly, the film never has to showcase a graphic depiction of the laundries making the film more powerful. The perspective focuses on Bill’s confusion, guilt and realisations to deepen the weight of the Magdalene monstrosities. The use of breathing as a plot device, was one of the most subtle yet brooding signifiers I have seen in a film this year.
Small Things Like These showcases why Cillian Murphy is one of the best today. Cillian Murphy has never played a character with such restraint and intensity where every look and gesture is packed with shattering implications. Another Oscar-worthy performance from Cillian Murphy. The film trusts in the power of the unspoken, showcasing the influence of history, the burden of guilt and the devastating choices that impact our lives. The meticulous attention to detail, makes Small Things Like These a film that will stay with you long after leaving the cinema.
Cast
Cillian Murphy as Bill Furlong
Eileen Walsh as Eileen Furlong
Michelle Fairley as Mrs. Wilson
Emily Watson as Sister Mary
Clare Dunne as Sister Carmel
Liadán Dunlea as Kathleen Furlong
Crew
Director – Tim Mielants
Screenwriter – Enda Walsh
Producers – Matt Damon, Cillian Murphy, Alan Moloney, Drew Vinton & Jeff Robinov
Cinematographer – Frank van den Eeden
Editor – Alain Dessauvage
Music – Senjan Jansen