Always Good Movies

Direction: Tim Mielants
Country: Ireland / Belgium

Based on Claire Keegan’s best-selling novel, Small Things Like These is a poignant Irish film directed by Belgian filmmaker Tim Mielants (Patrick, 2019), with a screenplay by Enda Walsh, co-writer of Hunger (2008) alongside Steve McQueen. The film stars Cillian Murphy as Bill Furlong, a quiet and diligent coal merchant who uncovers a harrowing secret within his small town’s convent. The mother superior, Sister Mary (Emily Watson), attempts to buy his silence with Christmas gifts, but Bill remains haunted by what he witnesses during his deliveries. As the story unfolds, he confronts unsettling truths about his own past.

The film’s naturalistic treatment—marked by nuanced performances and understated direction—heightens the realism of a story that is quietly profound in its simplicity and austerity. While it lacks a traditional climax and occasionally struggles with languid pacing, the narrative resonates deeply as a restrained yet powerful exploration of Catholic institutional abuses. Unlike more sensationalist approaches, the film opts for a steady, somber tone, subtly gesturing toward the hope of change.

Mielants crafts a sincere, lugubrious historical drama suffused with disenchantment and anguish. It stands as a deeply humanistic work, highlighting the imperative of rescuing young victims from the cruelty of unsupervised religious institutions. However, the film occasionally stumbles upon its understated ambitions, with moments of narrative ennui and a tendency to leave its emotional potential underexplored.

I was touched in the end, but never got hooked during the narrative process. I wanted to feel more, I guess. Yet, the ones who stay with the film may find a quiet reward in its understated power.

Direction: Christopher Nolan
Country: USA

Oppenheimer marks the sixth collaboration between the singularly original writer-director Christopher Nolan and the Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who, given the leading role here, works diligently under the guise of the physicist who created the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Populated with lightning-fast dialogues, oppressive music and artificial tension, the film differs from Nolan’s previous moves as there’s no emphasis on action. In a way, the type of narrative adopted by Nolan curbs the inventiveness that made Memento, Inception and Dunkirk instant classics.

As a cerebral biopic, it tries to get our attention through scientific fascination, political repression, international espionage, and the moral dilemma faced by the title character, who struggles with his own creation: a massive weapon that poses an existential threat to the humankind. Oppenheimer’s guilt is well expressed, as well as the cynicism of some of his associates, like Dr. Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr. is excellent) and Edward Teller (Benny Safdie). Even president Truman (Gary Oldman) disregarded his torment and did nothing to prevent his political persecution.

It’s an interesting, if formal, film that manages to captivate intermittently. Shot statically in black-and-white and color, it follows a transparent narrative strategy, being structured as a series of slow-moving scenes that require you to dive into meticulous dialogue with tenacity. On one side it’s an opportunity to get a history lesson on the matter, but the film only really shines on a few scattered powerful moments. It all came up more informative than fun.