Movie reviews: 'Belfast' is an earnest film that paints a vivid picture of a time and place

A scene from Kenneth Branagh's 'Belfast.' (Courtesy of TIFF)

BELFAST: 4 STARS

“Belfast,” Kenneth Branagh’s look back at his early life in Ireland, now playing in theatres, is a story very much of its time, but still resonates with contemporary themes.

The movie opens with tourist bureau beauty shots of modern Belfast before jumping back in time to the film’s black-and-white vision of the city in 1969. The Troubles have come to nine-year-old Buddy’s (Jude Hill) street. There is the Unionists and the Ulster Protestants who want Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. They are in in violent dispute with Irish nationalists, mostly Irish Catholics, who want Northern Ireland to exit the U.K. to join a united Ireland. Buddy is inquisitive, but he doesn’t understand what’s going on when an explosion sets his neighbourhood, a mix of Catholic and Protestant households, on edge. He’s too busy being smitten with Catherine (Olive Tennant), the pretty girl who sits in front of him at school.

Buddy’s father (Jamie Dornan), a construction worker whose job takes him to England for weeks at a time, is very much aware of the situation. Local hardmen advise him to join the Unionist cause… or else.

For the rest of the tightly-knit family, Ma (Caitriona Balfe), older brother Will (Lewis McAskie) and grandparents (Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench), life goes on, but the city’s increasing violence forces them to make a choice: Will they stay in the only home they’ve ever known, or relocate to safety in a strange city?

Seen through Buddy’s eyes, “Belfast” tackles big subjects like religious intolerance, senseless neighbour violence and ethno-nationalism, but focusses on the effect of those elements, not the elements themselves. That perspective allows Branagh to set the scene with a dramatic opening, a series of period television news broadcasts and the concerned looks on the faces of the adults. But set against a time of upheaval, this is a family drama, not a political one.

Branagh calls “Belfast” his most personal film, and it feels like it. Every frame radiates with the warmth of the connection Buddy shares with his family, and his family’s relationship to their home and country. Hill’s coming-of-age performance is the anchor that keeps the movie from drifting off course. His joy and infectious laugh when his grandfather cracks a joke is delightful, and you can really see the gears turning as he struggles to figure out why his once peaceful neighbourhood isn’t the Eden it once was.

The performances are uniformly interesting, but Balfe, as Ma, shines as a steely, protective presence.

Hinds and Dench, as Buddy’s grandparents, are frisky, lovable and bring an intimacy to their portrayals of people who have been married forever that is the very definition of heartfelt.

“Belfast” is a lovely, earnest movie that paints a vivid picture of a time, a place and, most importantly, its people. The scenes of Buddy and his family at the movies, or crowded around the television also reinforce something many of us have realized during the pandemic: the importance of art -- in this case, movies and television -- as an escape from the stark realities of the world.

RED NOTICE: 3 STARS

“Red Notice,” a new globe-trotting crime caper movie starring the powerhouse trio of Ryan Reynolds, Gal Godot and Dwayne Johnson, and now streaming on Netflix, is set against the backdrop of international crime and the theft of priceless, ancient treasures.

The story begins in 30 BC as Roman general and statesman Mark Antony gifts his true love Cleopatra with three gilded eggs. Think Fabergé eggs, only bigger and rarer. Two of them are in private hands, but a third disappeared thousands of years ago. Now, an Egyptian businessman has offered a king’s ransom to anyone who can locate the third egg and reunite it with the others in time for his daughter’s birthday. The promise of a huge payday draws the attraction of two international criminals, the smart-alecky art thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) and the coolly calculated Sarah Black (Gadot), both the subject of the Interpol-issued Red Notice, a warrant for immediate arrest and detention.

Leading the investigation into the theft of the eggs is Inspector Das (Ritu Arya) with FBI profiler agent John Hartley (Johnson). When Hartley becomes a suspect in the egg heist, he teams with Booth to prove his innocence and bring Black to justice.

“Red Notice” is an odd couple, buddy movie that takes advantage of the existing personas of Johnson and Reynolds. Johnson makes full use of his physicality to provide some goofy, humour slapstick while Reynolds displays his way with a one-liner. They click and make the most of the generic action and plot.

It’s also a great example of a deeply average movie made enjoyable by its charismatic cast. If you took away The Rock, Van Wilder and Wonder Woman from the screen, all you’d have left is an empty heist flick with exotic locations, implausible plot twists and villains right out of Central Casting.

Instead, the trio brings just enough charm and good times to the story to make it a check-your-brain-at-the-door, old-fashioned fun flick, and that’s why I gave “Red Notice” three stars, one star each for each of its stars, Reynolds, Gadot and Johnson.

THE BETA TEST: 3 STARS

Equal parts discomforting and funny, “The Beta Test,” a new dark comedy now on VOD, is a film industry satire that is unafraid to make the viewer squirm.

Remember Ari Gold, the motor-mouthed Hollywood agent played by Jeremy Piven on “Entourage"? On a scale of on to 10, 10 being the most abrasive, he was a nine.

“The Beta Test’s” Jordan Hines (Jim Cummings) is an 11. He’s a somewhat successful agent who makes money repacking already existing intellectual properties like “Caddyshack” -- but this time with dogs. He’s a walking deal memo with an attitude, a temper and a secret.

Weeks before his marriage to Caroline (Virginia Newcomb), Jordan receives a mysterious note. Designed to look like a wedding invitation, it invites him to a no-strings attached, anonymous sexual encounter that will cater to his kinks. Curious, he accepts, and spends an afternoon, blindfolded, indulging in his wildest fantasies.

Satisfied, he craves another tryst. But there is a complication. Others who accepted the same invitation are ending up dead at the hands of their significant others. Perplexed and afraid, Jordan launches an investigation into the source of the invite as his personal and professional lives fall apart.

“The Beta Test” isn’t really about the mystery. The identity of the invite senders isn’t the point of this movie, it’s the McGuffin that keeps the action moving along. Instead, this is a piercing look at the emptiness of the film business and the folks who decide what entertainment we get to see.

As Jordan, Cummings is one step away from being feral. He’s the twitchy, uncomfortable centre of the story. Unable to be truly happy, he’s self-aware enough to recognize his unhappiness, but his worldview won’t allow him to admit that to anyone, particularly his clients. He’s all surface; the kind of guy who buys a painting he can’t afford to impress people. That soullessness lies at the heart of “The Beta Test.” It’s a brutal attack on the Jordan Hineses of the world that lampoons the Hollywood A-type architype in a way that makes “Entourage’s” portrayal of Ari Gold seem tame by comparison.

“The Beta Test’s” study of toxic masculinity and fragility isn’t without its bumps, but the overarching message is surprisingly simple and gentle for such a ferocious movie. “Everybody just wants to be famous, but for what? Be happy with what you’ve got.”

PASSING: 4 STARS

Set during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, “Passing,” a new drama starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, and now streaming on Netflix, is a story of childhood friends whose bond is threatened when they reconnect 12 years after school.

Based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, “Passing” begins as Irene (Thompson), the upper-middle-class wife of Harlem doctor Brian (André Holland), is approached by former schoolmate Clare (Ruth Negga) in the lobby of a fancy hotel on a steamy, hot New York afternoon. “Pardon me,” Clare says, “I don’t mean to stare, but I think I know you.” At first Irene doesn’t recognize her old friend. It has been years since they’ve spoken and Clare, with her bleached hair and eyebrows, is almost unrecognizable.

They get caught up, exchange stories, but time has passed and the former friends find they have little in common. Irene spends her time working as a volunteer fighting for the rights of Black people in her community. Clare, on the other hand, has been “passing” as white. Her husband John (Alexander Skarsgard) is a loudmouthed racist who has no idea about his wife’s racial identity. “Have you ever thought of what you’d do if John ever found out?” Irene asks.

Sensing trouble, buttoned-down Irene isn’t keen to rekindle the friendship, but the charismatic wild card Clare ingratiates herself into the fabric of Irene’s carefully cultivated life with devastating results.

Director Rebecca Hall has carefully reconstructed the era of almost a century ago with exquisite period details, beautiful black-and-white photography and old fashioned, boxy 4:3 aspect ratio to examine very current explorations of race, identity and societal position. Thompson and Negga inhabit that world as they both deliver nuanced, introspective performances that are never overwhelmed by the film’s style or themes.

“Passing” is an elegant, quiet film that allows for the leads to fully inhabit the characters and explore the interpersonal undercurrents that keep the story afloat. A fine mix of craft and emotion, “Passing” should appeal to the head and heart.