This historical drama has been hailed as “perfect” by fans and it has a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Small Things Like These is adapted from the Booker Prize nominated novel by Claire Keegan.
The film’s synopsis reads: “Small Things Like These takes place over Christmas in 1985, when devoted father and coal merchant Bill Furlong discovers startling secrets kept by the convent in his town, along with some shocking truths of his own. The film reveals truths about Ireland’s Magdalene laundries – horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform ‘fallen young women’. Adapted from the Booker Prize-nominated novel by Claire Keegan.”
Cillian Murphy stars as Bill Furlong alongside Emily Watson, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Ciarán Hinds, Clare Dunne and Zara Devlin among others.
The film has been met with a positive reaction and is highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes.
The critics’ consensus reads: “Cillian Murphy’s outstanding acting anchors Small Things Like These, elevating an occasionally enervating historical drama.”
One audience review described the film as “perfect”, adding: “As with the book, it is carefully laid out with pieces of the puzzle assembling throughout to explain the final move of the protagonist which even he does not appear to have foreseen. Beautiful, gentle and at the same time, devastating.”
James Mottram from Radio Times gave the film four out of five stars and called it an “understated drama that’s miniature in scale but not ambition”.
Ben Croll from TheWrap labelled the film a “modest gem”.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded the film four out of five stars and described it as an “absorbing, committed drama”, adding: “I was so rapt, so caught up in this film, that I wasn’t aware that it was going to be the ending until the screen faded to black.”
Small Things Like These is streaming now on Amazon Prime.