Review: Small Things Like These
It's only natural that Cillian Murphy follows up his big Oscar win with the larger than life Oppenheimer with this quiet character study set in his home country of Ireland. I have never read the novel this is based off of, so I can't compare the two. But I did enjoy this for what it was.
Small Things Like These isn't the showiest film out there. It's asks some heavy questions while taking its time to answer them. I never found myself frustrated with Bill's choices, even though he does take his time to act. It's not an instance where you want to scream at your screen to get the character to do something. Murphy plays
him well. He's kind, and you understand why he might not want to stick his neck out at certain times. Especially when Emily Watson's Sister Mary is so damn scary.
I do wonder if Bill's backstory played a larger part in the book. The "shocking truth" mentioned in the synopsis isn't very shocking to a casual viewer, but I felt like it should've carried a bit more weight than it did. Still, the film overall works very well and is well worth the $5.99 to rent it on VOD. The wonderful Michelle Fairley even has a small role, though I wish she were in it more.
Grade: B
I'll put this on the list. In general, I'll watch something with Cillian Murphy in it (which is also why Peaky Blinders is my current workout show).
ReplyDeleteOh that's funny! Peaky Blinders was my workout show too. Watched all of it on a treadmill (and also almost fell off a couple of times because of it)
DeleteI do want to see this as I'm glad Cillian Murphy is using his own clout to do small films like this as I think there's a part of him where he'll do something big for money only to use that money to do smaller films and help out his own community. That is cool.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like him. It's definitely worth the VOD rental.
Delete