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Belfast

100 Movies of 2021

Belfast

2021

Kenneth Branagh

Jude Hill, Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench ...

6.7

13,605

Drama A coming-of-age drama set during the tumult of late-1960s Northern Ireland, the film follows young Buddy as he navigates a landscape of working-class struggle, sweeping cultural changes, and sectarian violence. Buddy dreams of a glamorous future that will whisk him far from the Troubles, but, in the meantime, he finds consolation in his charismatic Pa and Ma, and his spry, tale-spinning grandparents.

	Author	Review
United States	Clayton Davis Variety	"A touching and moving portrait of childhood and family and the first movie I’ve seen this year that can be a best picture winner."	POS
United States	Jeannette Catsoulis The New York Times	"[Branagh] has written a charming, rose-tinted thank-you note to the city that sparked his dreams and the parents whose sacrifices helped them come true."	POS
United States	Ann Hornaday The Washington Post	"For its frequently painful contours, there’s an abundance of pleasures to be had in 'Belfast,' Kenneth Branagh’s irresistible memoir (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"There's a terrific warmth and tenderness to it: spryly written, beautifully acted and shot (...) It has such emotional generosity and wit and it tackles a dilemma of the times not often understood (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Peter Travers ABC News	"There may be bigger, costlier, showier films this year, but none cuts a clearer, truer path to the heart than 'Belfast' (...) It's his best and most bracingly personal film"	POS
United States	Leah Greenblatt Entertainment Weekly	"A film filtered less through real life than the rosy lens of sentiment and memory (...) There are already so many excellent chronicles of the era (...) that it's hard to know quite where to slot 'Belfast'"	NEU
United States	Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"Masterful memoir (...) This is the best movie I've seen so far in 2021 (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Monica Castillo The Playlist	"A stirring coming-of-age portrait with magnificent performances (...) The emotional moments are given plenty of breathing time"	POS
United States	Steve Pond The Wrap	"Visually stunning, emotionally wrenching and gloriously human (...) The film feels true in the way it must be exploring Branagh’s memories of a tumultuous and confusing time"	POS
United States	David Fear Rolling Stone	"[Branagh's] best movie in years (...) Its mix of gravitas, sentimentality, salty wit, tragedy, and 'roman à clef' storytelling is most definitely Academy catnip."	POS
United States	Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune	"I hope Branagh revisits his own life again on screen, just to see if he can come up with something as wonderful as 'Belfast' fans believe 'Belfast' to be (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Fionnuala Halligan Screendaily	"The result is engaging, tender film-making which tugs at the heart-strings, spurred by a sympathetic cast and the young lead, newcomer Jude Hill."	POS
United States	Stephen Farber The Hollywood Reporter	"[Branagh] brings off moments of humor and pathos that leave a lasting impact (...) The main characters are so well drawn and beautifully played that we cannot help getting caught up in their daily struggles"	POS
United States	Pete Hammond Deadline	"It is all seen from the perspective of Buddy, played with spirit, heart and spunk by irresistible newcomer Jude Hill (...) The black-and-white cinematography is stunning"	POS
United States	Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"For all the specificities of that time and place (...) it’s rendered here with a curious lack of real, lived-in texture."	NEU
United States	Christy Lemire rogerebert.com	"It’s hard not to be charmed by this love letter to a pivotal place and time in [Branagh's] childhood, and to the people who helped shape him into the singular cultural force he’d become (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	David Ehrlich IndieWire	"Here is a movie that wants to feel like a Movie, and that artificially sweetened tone helps mitigate the fact that its protagonist appears to live on a studio backlot."	POS
United States	Brian Truitt USA Today	"Except for a few missteps, 'Belfast' mostly succeeds as a crowd-pleasing coming-of-age film, and is a thoughtful and touching look at a nuanced childhood (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"At times, he borrows the grammar of westerns to show us this tough world through a child's eyes: a place where heroes strive to keep villains in their place (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	M.N. Miller Ready Steady Cut	"'Belfast' is not only one of the year's very best films, but Branagh's finest film to date (…) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Ian Freer Empire	"Highly entertaining and beautifully done without ever being innovative or challenging, finding the universal in the specific, the upbeat in dire circumstances. Slight but winning (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	A.A. Dowd AV Club	"Why is the most personal movie of the filmmaker's career so impersonally directed? (...) Watching 'Belfast', the modestly scaled, monochromatic movie he's made, you can't help but wonder if he waited too long"	NEU
Canada	Mel Valentin Screen Anarchy	"As the central character, Hill meets the challenge and then some, delivering a finely crafted performance that could have come only through the patient coaching and guidance of a director like Branagh"	POS
Canada	Mae Abdulbaki Screen Rant	"Moving and personal, Kenneth Branagh's best film in years (...) There's a lot of passion and love laced into the film and it clearly shows (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Matt Goldberg Collider	"[The] directing choices always put us at a distance (...) Branagh ends up giving us a time and a place, but never much reason to care."	NEG
United States	Bilge Ebiri Vulture	"There is something genuinely bold in giving a movie about Belfast in 1969 the warm glow of the everyday. It reminds us that life goes on."	POS
	David Katz Cineuropa	"His most personal work to date (...) Svelte, sad, sentimental (...) What distinguishes 'Belfast' in a positive sense from forebears in this new quasi-genre is its willingness to be a crowd-pleaser"	POS

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Belfast

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