Belfast

[Belfast] is a major change of pace for the man who was once dubbed “the next Laurence Olivier,” and easily the best thing he’s done as a writer-director in decades.

Love letters to the past are always addressed to an illusion, yet this is such a seductive piece of myth-making from Branagh.

There are not enough platitudes to heap on the performance Branagh coached out of [Jude] Hill…his enthusiasm carries so much of the movie that whenever fear or sadness get the better of him, it feels more pronounced and heartbreaking.