What comes to mind when you think of Ireland?
James Joyce, Guinness, stew, your great great great grandmother who might have been born there.
Were kind to tourists and we know how to celebrate.
Image via Lionsgate
But we’ve been reduced to this, resulting in years of misrepresentation in all mediums, especially cinema.
What Is ‘Small Things Like These’ About?
Bill Furlong (Murphy) is your average blue-collar worker on the surface.
Image Via Lionsgate
He runs a coal company in rural Ireland in the mid-1980s, and his days rarely change.
Bill is a man trying to be the best version of himself.
Mierlants and Walshs work goes hand in hand with the ethos of Keegans work show dont tell.
At no point are we spoonfed feelings.
Everything is left for us to catch.
The film reunites Murphy with Steven Knight.
Image Via Lionsgate
Eileen Walsh doesnt let the complex morality of her character get lost.
It is the dogma of someone who realizes the dangers of living a completely truthful existence.
It never becomes a caricature, but it captures how feared and corrupt the church was.
Thats what is most upsetting about the film: It didnt happen that long ago.
Im not trying to say that Ireland hasnt changed.
Watching a film likeSmall Things Like Theseis a history lesson in why Irish people are the way they are.
Cast
Small Things Like Theseis now in theaters.. Click below for showtimes near you.
