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After his Oscar-winning, pitch-perfect role in Christopher Nolan’sOppenheimer, people have been eagerly awaiting Cillian Murphy’s next role. Instead of taking on something big to follow up the near $1 billion grossing, Best Picture winner, Murphy has instead chosen to go smaller – much, much smaller inSmall Things Like These. This film tells an appropriately small, intimate story that works mostly as a showcase for Murphy’s acting ability, which is just as sharp as before.
Small Things Like TheseReview
Small Thingsis a co-production of Artists Equity, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company, and Big Things FIlms, Cillian Murphy’s brand new company. Serving as the first project of which Murphy has produced, this film has a particularly special feeling to it.
An adaptation of Claire Keegan’s 2021 novel, this follows Bill Furlong (Murphy), a coal merchant living in a small Irish town in the mid-80s. On a regularly scheduled coal delivery to his local nunnery, he begins to suspect that the young women inside are being put to forced labor, instead of being trained to work for the church.
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Again, this is a small story, so instead of putting everything he can into unveiling the dark secrets of the convent, Bill struggles internally with whom to tell and how to help the young women out. He has a family to take care of, and in a town where everybody knows each other, is it smart to rock the boat, especially leading up to Christmas? Furlong quietly contemplates what to do instead, making him a somewhat unusual protagonist whose actions are not always clear.
Since the scope of the story isn’t large, we’re given plenty of time to focus on Murphy’s performance as Bill, which is simply magnanimous. It’s beautiful to see how thePeaky Blindersactor can strip absolutely everything away from his characters and leave us with a quietly devastating shell of a man. Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, and Emily Watson help fill out the cast in other similarly quiet yet important roles. Watson, in particular, delivers a brilliant, upsetting performance. It really is a masterclass in small-scale acting.
Tim Mielants direction pairs very nicely with the script and actors. He elevates every small scene through Frank van den Eeden’s cinematography, allowing us a stirring look into the world of this quiet town. Mielants is also directing the next Murphy-starring project from Big Things FIlms,Steve, so this film gives us a good look into what many of the films from this studio might look like.
As far as the script goes, Walsh nicely adapts the book. Like the title, though, the story is simply too minute to leave all too much of an impact. It’s a rather bleak film that perfectly captures the somber nature of Catholic abuse scandals. It’s potentially too quiet and suffers from being a little slow in the moments that matter. This wavers between being genuinely arresting and distractingly simple.
IsSmall Things Like Theseworth watching?
It only offers us a look into Bill’s perspective, which says something important about how society turns a blind eye to atrocities, but since Bill is such a satellite character, we never fully explore the crux of the story. This isn’t to say that the story necessarily needed to have Bill explaining that what is going on is evil in some big confrontation, it just doesn’t have the biggest impact it could as a result.
While the quiet tone ofSmall Things Like Thesemight be too slow for fans of Murphy’s previous work, it’s a solid showcase for Murphy and a solid start for his new production company. Embracing indie filmmaking like this is always important, and even if it loses steam in the final hour, this is a humble gem of a drama worthy of a watch.
Small Things Like Theseis in theaters starting November 8.
Small Things Like These Review — Cillian Murphy Powerfully Leads Slow Drama
Cole Groth
Film/TV Critic
Articles Published :71
Hi! My name is Cole. I’m a twenty-year-old attending the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. I’ve watched one movie every day since May 2020, with my all-time favorite film being Max Barbakow’s Palm Springs (2020).
