‘Small Things Like These’ review: Dir. Tim Mielants [Berlinale]
thehollywoodnews.comAhead of what looks to be a certain – at the time of writing – best actor win for his work on Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy leads this absorbing drama from Belgian filmmaker Tim Mielants; a story about a working-class father who has questions about the local convent who has more than a hold on a small town in Ireland.Based upon the 2021 novel of the same name by Claire Keegan (whose previous work, Foster was adapted into The Quiet Girl to international acclaim), and from a screenplay by Enda Walsh, the film is set in the mid-eighties, specifically during the lead-up to Christmas.
Murphy is Bill Furlong, owner of a small coal and fuel firm in the harbour town of Wexford on the southeastern coast of Ireland.
Bill is a devoted father of four girls, happily married to a doting wife, Eileen (Eileen Walsh), and an absolute grafter. He’s a hands-on boss, out delivering the coal to townsfolk during a snow-covered, seriously bleak midwinter, while his eldest daughter, Grace (Aoife Gaffney) mans the phones back in the office.His days see him leave the house by dawn and not returning until dark, hands calloused as covered in black from his day delivering fuel to those that need it.
One such client is the local convent, which also runs the neighbouring school for girls, one which Bill hopes his daughters will attend when they become old enough to.
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