Small Things Like These

I could watch Murphy stare at a wall watching paint dry for 2 hours and I'd still buy a ticket.

Here, as Bill Furlong, he conveys a sadness that is rarely seen or understood by the people close to him. But we (the audience) can see it's there.

I won't go into the story that much. Honestly, there's not much there. But that doesn't mean it's a bad movie. It just means that it's a simple story. But one that is very well written, beautifully shot (The whole time, I believed I was in Ireland during the eighties) and incredibly well acted.

The Magdelene laundries were a real thing up until 1996, when the last one closed. Unmarried, pregnant teens were sent to monasteries to give birth and lose their child to forced adoption. All the while, they were abused as cheap labor by the nuns who were running the laundries. Sometimes, they were also physically abused and mistreated. It has left a mark on the soul of the country.

Eileen Walsh, who plays Ms. Furlong, also starred in the Magdalene sister, a movie from 2003. Coincidence or not: I suggest that you check it out because it's a perfect bookend to this gem of a movie.

'Small Things Like These (2024)' is a quiet character study about a working-class man who learns of a long-ignored abusive situation and grapples with his conscience - as well as those around him - as to whether he should, or even could, do anything to prevent it. It feels incredibly relevant in today's society, essentially making the case that we shouldn't turn a blind eye to suffering just because it's easier - and expected - to do so. It posits that you should help in whatever small way you can, that kindness is courage and that going against the grain to do what's right is paramount even when the weight of the world's injustices feel so overwhelming that to ignore them seems like the only option. At the centre of the picture is Cillian Murphy's low-key, almost entirely insular performance. He puts in some phenomenal work and is able to convey a complete character arc with very little dialogue and even less on-the-nose exposition. The screenplay mostly implies rather than states, forcing the audience to interpret its events in order to fully understand the narrative (which isn't so much ambiguous as it is not spoon-fed). This makes for a deceptively quiet and mundane experience that feels really realistic. It's not the most entertaining movie in the world, but it isn't supposed to be and its creeping power can't quite be denied. Although I wish it did expand its ending somewhat to deliver at little more denouement, the final frames make it clear that the film has been about a choice rather than its aftermath. The climax cements the film as a character study, reinforcing the fact that each and every moment has been building up to the decision the lead makes in the last act. While the affair is generally rather slow and its pacing initially feels somewhat skewed, it's ultimately a rewarding and distinct effort that doesn't need to shout in order to be heard. It's pretty strong stuff.

A friend of mine used to own a big gay bar in Dublin, and I recall being in it the day that marriage was legalised in Eire. One of the women celebrating was telling us of her childhood at the hands of the nuns in the 1970s. It was a ghastly story of women who hadn't an ounce of compassion between them all, and this film picks up that cudgel and swings it squarely at what it is little better than a religious equivalent of a Dickensian workhouse. The story is told from the perspective of local coal merchant "Bill" (Cillian Murphy) who lives with his wife and five daughters in a small town in Co. Wexford. Nobody has much money and some are reduced to gathering wood from the forest floor to heat their homes. By comparison, his family are quite well off and with Christmas looming all are anticipating a good family time. He supplies the local convent-cum-orphanage where the unwed girls of the community are deposited when they get in the family way, and it's here that he encounters a young lass locked in the coal shed. Freezing and terrified, he wonders how she got herself trapped in there - and that's where the story starts to focus on not just the inhumanity that prevailed, but on the internecine, web-like, tendrils of a church that brooked no resistance or interference. If you want a "peaceable life" then you'd best leave well alone. Can he, though? He is frequently reminded of his own childhood. One of tragedy, kindness, an hot water bottle and a jigsaw puzzle. "Bill" is a troubled man who has much to mull over as his conscience refuses to accept the societal compromises even his wife (Eileen Walsh) might prefer he adopt in the face of what he has now witnessed. This is definitely a less-is-more film, with an effective paucity of dialogue and a sense of oppressiveness that frequently overwhelms with it's simplicity. The setting demonstrates a degree of menace way more poignantly than any horror film, but horror this is - and an illustration of cruelty in it's most devastatingly subtle form. Murphy shines here, his performance allows his character to take us with him as we all observe a scenario unfold that might not have been out of place in 1885 - but in 1985? Not an easy watch, but well worth ninety minutes of your time.

It took me a couple of days to process this movie. To all who asked me "did you like it?" I could not give an answer. I didn't like it and I didn't not like it for a simple reason, it's so absorbing, such a meditative experience that I just internalised it. There were times I realised I did not breath for a few seconds during scenes, other moments were I found myself smiling, some moments when I could feel the heaviness on my chest. It's the Ireland of the dark ages, when you start watching this movie you might feel you are in the 50s but really you are in the mid 80s, people were lucky if they had a job and warm place to sleep in, the Catholic Church ran the show and was so infiltrated in the institutions that they controlled education and therefore shaped the culture of the time. So we have this story, which unfortunately is a real one, that takes place in New Ross, Ireland. It's a small village, the movie makes a fantastic job in getting you into the oppressive atmosphere, even by showing the main character Bill Furlong doing very repetitive working tasks at the beginning, it's all part of getting you into the mood. Small village, close minded, everyone knows everything and anyone. Perception is crucial, show your best side, keep the bad hidden, omologate, don't think out of the box. And repeat. We meet Bill Furlong in the middle of a nervous breakdown, he was the fatherless child of a young mother, who was lucky enough to be raised by the woman his mother worked for. He has a hard childhood because despite being raised by a woman of money he does not belong to that world and the times are not kind to a fatherless child. He is trying to reckon with his past when one day delivering coal at the convent of the village he find a girl in the cold shed left there overnight. His struggle between personal interests and doing the right thing is powerful, he has 5 girls and the nuns control education and therefore the future prospects of his talented girls that he loves and worked his whole life to provide for, and doing the right thing, moral and ethic also putting on top of that that his mother could have been one of those girls if she wasn't as lucky to be taken in by a kind person. He is forced to look the other way, ignore other people suffering for the good of his own family, but when looking the other way is someone that understands pain, someone that has been there and knows what it means, looking the other way becomes so much harder. It's beautifully shot to highlight dark and gloomy to match the heavy tone of the story, I found the use of the blurring lenses incredible and key to the storyline, when you see something you do not want to see, that you want to block out. Scene with Eileen in the living room is such an incredible example: she is listening but ignoring, really she doesn't want to know. Eileen Walsh is absolutely phenomenal in portraying this woman who for a while you kind of think she's a coward but then you understand she is scared, she is doing that for the good of her family, how to blame her. Emily Watson is terrifying, she emanates power every word she utters without even making a move, she's towering even to a strong man, a great metaphor for the Catholic Church that managed to put into submission entire countries for centuries. Cillian Murphy, for one hour and thirty minutes, reminds you why he was given an Oscar six months ago. He was born with a gift and thankfully he decided to share it with the rest of us. I realised only after watching it that he probably has 10 minutes of talking time in the movie but it feels like he has 3 hours, because what he communicates with silence, with his face, with his pauses is absolutely out of this world. There is a scene he is driving his truck and stops and stays in breathing that I realised when it was over that I had not been breathing for the whole scene. If this movie was given a bit more attention by Lionsgate it could have been his second Oscar.

The silence of the movie is resounding, the absence of a strong soundtrack to enhance emotions is a choice, it's not your tears that they are going for, it is raw emotion. The movie is driven not by its plot but by its message, which is not judgemental, but invites you to think. The movie ends when the story begins, just like the book. But the message is so powerful and the dilemma so hard, that you spend two days questioning yourself what would you have done if you were Bill Furlong? A reflection on our society past and present, a must see, a small little work of art.

It's unbelievable to know that this story takes place in 1985 and went on until 1997. Cillian Murphy's breathtaking performance takes you through the struggles from his past and the struggles in his present until the character of Bill Furlong can't take it any more. Filmed up close and very personal. You can hear every breath and feel his pain. Beautifully portrait by Tim Mielants. He is so close to all the characters, you can almost feel their hearts beat.

The story is one of the many sad examples of the influence of the churches in Europe until recently. Seeing this film at the Film Fest Gent gave it an extra dimension with Cillian Murphy introducing the film and wishing everyone a pleasant screening in Dutch. From the screen, due to his work on PB7 as we speak.