Belfast
Semi-autobiographical black-and-white film by Kenneth Branagh about a boy growing up in troubled Belfast in the 1960s. Belfast has won the Oscar for best original screenplay.
In his three decades of filmmaking, Kenneth Branagh has ushered us into Henry V’s campaign at Agincourt, Thor’s celestial chambers on Asgard, and murderous intrigues aboard the Orient Express. Branagh’s latest work unfolds in a much more real-world and familiar setting for the prolific actor, writer, and director. Named after the city of his birth, BELFAST is Branagh’s most personal – and most affecting – film yet.
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.
Its story rooted in blood ties, BELFAST is a film that is characteristically meticulous in its evocation of a particular place and time, while Branagh’s superb cast fill every scene with energy, idiosyncrasy, and heart. (source: www.tiff.net)