#1: BELFAST

Starring Jude Hill, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Judi Dench, Colin Morgan. Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. 97 minutes long.

Welcome to the first film of 2022, a 97 minute semi-autobiographical comedy-drama written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. 

Set in 1969, the plot follows the life of nine-year old Protestant, Buddy (Jude Hill) growing up on the streets of Belfast as the 'Troubles' begin to turn his idyllic world into something far more sinister and scary. 

Buddy's the son of a carpenter once dubbed the 'Golden Torso' by the New York Times, his 'Ma' used to be a fashion model, his 'Granny' was James Bond's controller, and his 'Pops' was the supervillain Steppenwolf. So, you know, he's just an ordinary kid.

He and his brother are mostly raised by his Ma, while his dad works abroad as a chippy, Buddy's life is filled with street games, passing his maths tests so he can sit closer to his first crush, visiting the cinema to watch 1,000,000 BC and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and coming to terms with the baffling Troubles as they begin to intrude into his world with confusing violence based on religion. Meanwhile, his parents have the odd argument about an unpaid tax debt, discuss leaving Belfast to escape the troubles and try to avoid the mildly bullying attentions of Protestant thug (Colin Morgan). Buddy gets sage advice from his Pops, and has the best frickin' Christmas of his life when he's given not only a Corgi James Bond Goldfinger DB5 (in a blister pack, which is incorrect), TWO Thunderbird toys, and an International Rescue play costume, basically every single fantastic toy I ever dreamed of having in my childhood dreams! 

Filmed in black and white this is a well-directed and pretty looking film, and while it's told entirely from the point of view-of-view of Buddy it also has a fantastic cast of secondary characters. The only trouble is, it's almost too overly sweet, and life-affirming that it runs the risk of becoming horribly sentimental. It's only the threat of sectarian violence, that slowly creeps into proceedings, and a moving funeral that keeps this the right side of mawkish, and you find yourself hoping the family survive the film before it's too late. 

I liked this, I enjoyed its gentle touch and the sweetness of the whole thing. I loved the fact it was a small story and filled with small incidents and not world-shattering, epoch making drama. Plus it's one of those rare things these days, a 90 odd minute movie! 

A gentle start to 2022. 

8/10