Belfast
Short description
Belfast is a coming-of-age drama set in the Northern Irish capital in the summer of 1969. Nine-year-old Buddy lives with his working-class family in a close-knit community, surrounded by devoted parents and grandparents. His days are filled with school, play and a growing interest in a girl his age. That ordinary childhood is disrupted when sectarian violence erupts in the neighbourhood, and the family must weigh staying in the place they know against starting over somewhere else.
Kenneth Branagh wrote, directed and produced the film, the sixteenth of the eighteen features he has directed to date, following Artemis Fowl and preceding Death on the Nile. Jude Hill plays Buddy, with Jamie Dornan and Caitríona Balfe as his parents, Lewis McAskie as his brother Will, and Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds as his grandparents. The production brought together 46 credited cast members and 56 credited crew.
Released in November 2021, the film runs 98 minutes. Made for a budget of 11 million US dollars, it earned about 49 million worldwide, a multiple of its cost that indicates a solid return for a drama of this scale. Audience approval is consistent across platforms, with a rating of 7.2 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 117,000 votes and 7 out of 10 on TMDB. A critics' rating of 7.8 out of 10 from 331 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on a real story from Kenneth Branagh's childhood, who became the film's director and screenwriter.
- The street where Buddy lives was actually a set built on an abandoned airfield in Hampshire. During the filming of the film, all the major studios in England turned out to be booked for other projects, so Kenneth Branagh was forced to look for an alternative.
- To capture moments of spontaneity, Kenneth Branagh often secretly filmed scenes when Jude Hill thought he was just practicing and rehearsing. Over time, the actor began to suspect what was going on, so they simply taped over the light indicators (red lights) showing when the camera was on and running. Numerous secretly filmed "rehearsals" were included in the film.
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