Directed by: Tim Mielants
Written by: Enda Walsh, based on Claire Keegan’s book
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Zara Devlin, and Emily Watson
Runtime: 98 minutes
‘Small Things Like These’: Murphy gives a soulful performance in this somber small-town story
“If you want to get along in this life, there are things you have to ignore.” – Eileen Furlong (Eileen Walsh)
Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy), his wife, Eileen, and their five daughters live in New Ross, a small town in County Wexford, Ireland. The year is 1985, and Bill delivers coal to homes and businesses to help keep the townsfolk warm during the cold days and nights in this corner of the Emerald Isle.
One day, when Bill makes his rounds at a church, he witnesses a physical struggle with a young lady (Zara Devlin). The moment gives him a frosty chill, one that sends him on a path of reflection and a present-day tussle with his conscience.
Director Tim Mielants’ “Small Things Like These”, adapted from Claire Keegan’s 2021 novel, is a sullen drama that effectively confronts Ireland’s Magdalene laundry institutions but from (mostly) a perspective of the local residents. The Catholic Church established the laundries and forced women, deemed “improper” due to their sexual activity, to work. Often, the ladies were subject to emotional and physical abuse.
Keegan’s book is 128 pages, and Mielants’ movie, written by Enda Walsh, runs 98 minutes. The film adaptation primarily focuses on Bill’s childhood memories, his guilt over knowing the local church’s aforementioned practices, and link between the two.
(For the record, Enda Walsh is not related to Eileen Walsh, and Eileen was ironically cast in 2002’s “The Magdalene Sisters“, a film about the same subject.)
“Small Things Like These” is a character-driven picture that shadows Bill along his routes. He lugs 50-pound coal sacks in and out of his truck’s bed and washes up at home after 10-to-12-hour days of blue-collar labor with the black, sooty chunks of fuel.
This gentle, soft-spoken soul cares for his wife and daughters. The Furlongs enjoy an amiable, modest life, and the quintet of children clearly reveals that Bill and Eileen are compliant Catholics. Bill is already a man of few words, but after witnessing the upsetting scene outside the church, he is frequently lost and silent in internal deliberations, even during the supposed joyous days leading up to Christmas.
The story hinges on whether Bill can push through the pain of his past and whether any current action can help with the former. Murphy – in his first theatrical film since his Oscar-winning turn in “Oppenheimer” (2023) – tenders soulful, silent expressions throughout the runtime that speak volumes into Bill’s anguish. The gloomy grey Irish skies and bleak browns in nature and textiles match Bill’s frame of mind, and the character’s history plays a vital role in framing the lasting inclusion of a work camp inside a house of worship within New Ross’ borders.
Speaking of the house of worship in question, the ever-reliable Emily Watson plays Sister Mary for only five minutes or so of screen time, but her daunting confrontation with Bill demonstrates the church’s intimidating hold over the community where actual dissent is a fanciful pipe dream that never veers outside of anyone’s lanes.
“Small Things” may be set in the mid-1980s, but generations of burdens pile on Bill’s shoulders, and Mielants’ simple third-act shot of a famous puzzle from the period adds additional clarity to our protagonist’s dilemma in the here and now. In this movie, in this town, and in this time, a potential small act of bravery is no small thing.
It would be a biblical-sized trek, if followed.
Jeff’s ranking
3/4 stars
