Small Things Like These movie storyline. Bill Furlong is a coal man and – more importantly – a good man, beloved by his family and working-class community. Despite the affection of his five daughters and the attention of his more practical-minded wife (Eileen Jones), the doleful Bill has never shook the blues that arrived with his early orphaning. And so he spends the days leading up to Christmas 1985 walking the streets of his conservative Irish town, noticing the orphans and outcasts with a more acute eye than most, and, in turn, reflecting on their pain.
Though adapted from Claire Keegan’s acclaimed novel, the film is a more impressionistic affair, with a first half that accents mood and visual texture over narrative bustle. We meander alongside the lead, while flashbacks to Bill’s unhappy childhood don’t always announce themselves as such, with initial jolts of confusion quickly offset by the elegance of director Tim Mielants and cinematographer Frank van den Eeden’s compositions. Before we learn the name of this young woman crying behind a fine-mesh screen we admire the elegant change-in-focus that traces the tear running down her cheek.
Small Things like These is a 2024 historical drama film directed by Tim Mielants and adapted by Enda Walsh from the 2021 novel of the same name by Claire Keegan, and starring Cillian Murphy (who also serves as a producer), Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Emily Watson, Clare Dunne, and Helen Behan. The film is an international co-production between Ireland and Belgium. Its storyline focuses on Ireland’s infamous Magdalene laundries.
Small Things like These had its world premiere on 15 February 2024 at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival. In June 2024, Lionsgate Films acquired distribution rights to the film for North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, teaming up with Roadside Attractions for the American release.
Small Things Like These (2024)
Directed by: The Eggers Brothers
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Emily Watson, Agnes O’Casey, Mark McKenna, Zara Devlin, Amy De Bhrún, Joanne Crawford, Abby Fitz, Liadan Dunlea, Cillian O’Gairbhi
Screenplay by: The Eggers Brothers
Production Design by: Paki Smith
Cinematography by: Frank van den Eeden
Film Editing by: Alain Dessauvage
Costume Design by: Alison McCosh
Art Direction by: Irene O’Brien
Music by: Senjan Jansen
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: February 18, 2024 (Berlinale)
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