Tim then uses his power to create the perfect romantic proposal, to save his wedding from the worst best-man speeches, to save his best friend from professional disaster and to get his pregnant wife to the hospital in time for the birth of their daughter, despite a nasty traffic jam outside Abbey Road. So they meet for the first time again-and again-but finally, after a lot of cunning time-traveling, he wins her heart. They fall in love, then an unfortunate time-travel incident means he's never met her at all. Moving from the Cornwall coast to London to train as a lawyer, Tim finally meets the beautiful but insecure Mary (Rachel McAdams). Sadly, that turns out not to be as easy as you might think. Tim can't change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his own life-so he decides to make his world a better getting a girlfriend. The night after another unsatisfactory New Year party, Tim's father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.Īt the age of 21, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time. This is a movie that you can imagine Branagh’s family would be proud of, which regardless of what happens on Oscar night, is the only review that matters.At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life.
But “Belfast” really is the quintessential cinematic love letter. So many films are described as love letters - to places, to time, to people, to even the idea of cinema - that the phrase has almost been rendered meaningless. But mostly “Belfast” will be fated to divide because after winning the Toronto International Film Festival audience award, it is an assumed best picture frontrunner, putting it in the company of possible company of “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The King’s Speech,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Nomadland,” and, infamously, “Green Book.” It’s why the only real option is to see it and decide for yourself. “Belfast” will get dinged for its sentiment, for its earnestness, for its broadness, for its sometimes witty and sometimes grating folksiness and for it being a movie to take your mother to that she’ll probably enjoy.
It’s not an understatement to say that his brilliance makes “Belfast” sing. Newcomer Jude Hill is so natural and true that you almost forget that you’re watching a performance. Hinds, too, is perfect as the tinkering grandfather who is always ready with advice and wisdom for young Buddy. Balfe and Dornan may be a bit romanticized as the most attractive parents in the world, but they make their relationship - the good and the bad - come alive through Buddy’s loving eyes. Thankfully, Branagh’s cast hits it out of the park. In this way, the movie lives or dies by the actors bringing that to life. “Belfast” is imbued with an idealized wistfulness fitting for someone who is telling a story about a home he left when he was only 9 years old.īesides, “Belfast” is about the authentic feeling of family rather than the particulars. He can be as squishy as he wants with his facts and garnishes. It’s Branagh’s memory, though, and a film, not a historical document. But there is thought behind this choice, too - they are contextually appropriate, being from the era and the place where the film is set despite some convenient squishiness on years. His songs are famously overused in films to the point where they’ve become cliché. The Van Morrison soundtrack is a case in point. And it’s going to be catnip for some audiences and infuriating to others, who may equate the glossiness with superficiality. The Troubles are merely a backdrop to this nostalgic crowd-pleaser, filmed lovingly in crisp, clear black and white (by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos) and set to upbeat Van Morrison music. It’s a child’s-eye perspective of a complex time, when neighborhood streets turned into war zones, and kids were left wondering how they were supposed to tell whether someone was Catholic or Protestant or remember where the no-go zones were. In “Belfast,” set in 1969, Buddy (Jude Hill) is just a normal kid living in the Northern Island city with his ma (Caitríona Balfe), pa (Jamie Dornan), brother (Lewis McAskie) and grandparents (Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds) during “the Troubles.“ We see a love for theater and cinema, but no nascent Shakespeare affinities or even performative tendencies. This isn’t a portrait of the artist as a young man. If you didn’t know Kenneth Branagh’s new film “ Belfast ” was based (somewhat) on his own childhood, you probably wouldn’t know it by the end either.