Belfastafterthought

 Finished watching the movie and really liked it.  

I really like the black and white used in the movie.  Since the movie is from director's memory.  The black and white and millions of grey served the purpose well.  And it's such a simple setting, the lights and darkness somehow amplified in this mode of shooting.  I loved that one shot with grandpa and Buddy doing long division by the window.  But there were many others.  

JudyDench and CiaranHinds were amazing.  I loved them both already.  But their chemistry here was just beautiful.  Don't know why but almost every scene of them together, I could feel a long history between them.  Both of them are old now, so maybe acting as old couple aren't that difficult.   When I was watching a scene with Judy and Buddy on a bus, I was completely overtaken by Judy's performance.  It's such a shrewd performance, which must come from a very keen observation of people around her, and possibly herself.  She did not have much line in the scene, but with a few snicker or a chortle, which convey her age, and temperament so vividly.  Just wonderful.  

There're so many conversations between characters that are memorable.  The young actor was great at portraying at his own age.  It sounds so weird that old actors great at portraying elderly, and young for kids.  But the writing here somehow catches that sense of  祖輩和孫子。  I think here also showed Director's ability to communicate with actors.  When I watched the second time with my mom and my sister, I found how simple the movie really is.  The setup of each scenes is almost like a stage play.  What I feel as an audience really comes from the strength of the conversation between the characters, husband and wife(through 2 generations), friends, neighbors, fathers(through 3 generations), cousins.  The flavor come from words in this movie.  

There are some many heart felt laughter from this movie.  I highly recommended.  

The scene where pa said to ma, you raised these kids by yourself, not me.  somehow reminded me of my mom telling me almost the same thing her dad used to tell her that her ma raised her, not by her pa.  But in that context, i felt my grand pa meant that my mom's siblings' way of doing things is essentially from their mother, which might be different from grand pa's way.  the movie though I think was meant as a praise, not an assessment.  Then when I saw buddy asking his pa about grand pa helping him, I felt the impact of those words from previous scene.  Then I thought of all the parents who had to leave their kids and work from afar to provide.  A very universal scene, really.  

The way movie showed the world through child's eye also reminded me of JOJORabbit.  But JOJORabbit has more exaggeration and cartoony approach.  I liked Ken's movie better.  

Quote:

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but then I became a man and I put away childish things...

So do not say in grief that you are sorry he is gone. 

Rather say in thanfulness you are grateful he was here..."