Our first film of 2025 is the remarkably powerful Small Things Like These, screening on Thursday, Jan. 16 at the Paradise Cinemas.
Directed by Tim Mielants, the film transports us to a small unnamed Irish town in the 1980s, immersing us in the life of protagonist Bill Furlong (astoundingly played by Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy), a hard-working, and humble coal merchant. Bill is kind-hearted - although taciturn and reserved, he has earned the respect of many in his community. He has a loving relationship with his wife Eileen (Eileen Walsh) and together they are raising five daughters.
Yet Bill has a sense of sadness he can’t shake. More and more he is troubled by what he observes day to day, or at least the unspoken and unsavoury secrets of his small town are now taking on a heavy weight in his thoughts. We witness Bill overhearing a row happening between a man and woman, we see him observing a homeless child on the street, and we follow him as he attempts to help out a child who is desperately trying to avoid going home to his drunk father.
As a coal seller, his job takes him to many places in town, including the local convent run by the harsh Sister Mary (played in an outstanding performance by Emily Watson). He is aware, as is the rest of the town, that the convent takes in young women, ostensibly doing a Christianly duty by sheltering wayward girls who have nowhere else to go. But when Bill has a series of encounters there, he is forced to reconsider what is really going on, and forced to deal with memories from his past that he has not reconciled. Doing a routine drop off, he is shaken to witness a screaming girl being dragged in through doors. Later, when delivering an invoice to the convent Bill is shocked when accosted by a young woman, who frantically implores him to take her away. Later yet, he discovers a girl locked in the coal shed.
Bill has essentially discovered that the convent is operating as what we now know refer to as a Magdalene Laundry, not a shelter for fallen women, but a state-sanctioned, Catholic church-run prison by which women were forced into servitude. (Sidenote: While in the late 18th century “fallen women” primarily referred to sex workers, by the end of the 19th century, the laundries were filled with many different women, including girls who were pregnant outside of marriage, were the victims of sexual assault, mentally disabled, or were simply judged as not conforming to social norms. Inmates were forced to work, primarily in laundries, since the facilities were self-supporting).
Although Bill earns enough money to provide for his family through his business, the Furlongs are by no means rich: the power that Sister Mary and the church yield is interwoven with every power centre in town. Speaking out could result in more than enough to destroy his reputation, his business, and jeopardize his girls' education and future.
While this might sound like a film just about a depressing moment in Ireland’s history, it’s not, or rather, it’s a lot more than that. It’s a meticulously crafted exploration of a moral reckoning. Crafted from the exquisite Booker Prize nominated 2021 novel of the same name by Claire Keegan, Tim Mielants has evoked astounding performances from his cast, and imbued the film with the same tonal and atmospheric precision as the novel. This is a remarkable film, timeless in the issues it explores and radical in how it ends. It’s a film we predict will have you immersed in discussion afterwards with fellow movie goers.
When do we leave well and well enough alone? How do we muster the courage to speak up despite everything that is at risk? These matters deeply resonate not only with events happening globally today, but with what we witness ourselves in day-to-day life. Cillian Murphy is marvellous in this role and is a marvel to behold. It’s a masterclass in quiet acting: expressive yet profoundly inward looking, Murphy is able to distill all of the tension Bill carries within his face and countenance. As an audience, we’re fully absorbed in his dilemma. As film critic Richard Roeper writes for the Chicago Sun-Times, "with Cillian Murphy’s quiet, almost small and yet grand performance carrying the story every step of the way, Small Things Like These is quite possibly the best movie I’ve seen so far this year."
Small Things Like These is rated G. It’s got a 93 per cent critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
General admission tickets are $10.00 and are on sale now at The Open Book. Remaining tickets will be sold in the cinema lobby prior to the screening. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7:00 p.m. We encourage you to get your tickets in advance, and to arrive early to get a good seat and popcorn!
