Following his Best Actor Oscar win for ‘Oppenheimer,’ Cillian Murphy now stars in ‘Small Things Like These,’ a period piece drama film based on the 2021 award winning novel by Claire Keegan. Produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the film is helmed by director Tim Mielants.
In the film also starring Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Clare Dunne, Helen Behan, and Emily Watson, Murphy plays an Irish coal merchant in 1985 who uncovers disturbing secrets in his small town controlled by the Catholic Church.
It world premiered this year opening the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where supporting actress Mary Watson won the Silver Bear award for Best Supporting Performance.
Release Date
Directed by Tim Mielants, ‘Small Things Like These’ opens in UK & Ireland theaters on November 1, 2024 and in US theaters November 8, 2024.
Synopsis
Oscar® winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as devoted father Bill Furlong in this film based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Claire Keegan. While working as a coal merchant to support his family, he discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent — and uncovers truths of his own — forcing him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.
Reviews
David Rooney in a Hollywood Reporter review praised the film, writing, “It’s subtle but resonant, intimate but emotionally expansive and at every step crisply unsentimental.”
Katie Luxford in a Next Best Picture review gave the film a score of 8/10, writing, “Mielants is able to portray this restrained and dark screenplay by Walsh with nuance and without exploitation. It feels intimate and forces the audience to confront their own complicity in the prevalent evil surrounding them.”
Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for ‘Small Things Like These.’