I thought Cillian Murphy couldn’t get any more wide-eyed and weathered than in his Oscar-winning turn as the title character in Oppenheimer, but just one role later, he manages to do exactly that in Small Things Like These. Serving as a low-key star vehicle for one of the industry’s most steadfast and quietly expressive performers, Murphy feels almost too right for a role like this. The film simply follows him—face etched with equal parts resilience and sorrow—through a small Irish town during the Christmas season as he uncovers deeply unsettling truths about the Catholic Church, an institution that looms heavily over nearly every citizen in town.
It’s a restrained and quiet story, and Murphy shoulders much of its emotional weight, embodying a man grappling with his complicity in a system that thrives on silence.
Small Things Like These is steeped in incredibly dreary, depressing vibes. If you’re not here for that alone, you might want to look the other way, because that’s essentially what the movie has to offer. There’s not much plot to speak of—just a quiet, simmering exploration of a man’s internal reckoning. We learn bits and pieces about Bill Furlong’s (Cillian Murphy) troubled childhood and upbringing, which shaped him from a young boy into the grizzled, introspective man we see on screen. He’s regarded as a hardworking, middle-class provider for his family, but he’s also someone who keeps mostly to himself, rarely socializing beyond his immediate circle.
It’s Murphy’s performance that carries the film’s emotional tension, turning silence and stillness into something palpable.
It’s all pretty classical, sturdy stuff. Director Tim Mielants crafts a movie with a distinct sense of time and place. The Christmas setting establishes a tone that’s both chilly and insular, as if the film itself is wrapped in a cold, quiet unease. Each fleeting moment passes by with almost zero flash or embellishment, as though Small Things Like These is entirely void of style. The movie refuses to meet you halfway, content to remain firmly in its own measured pace.
In a way, you have to power through the film the first time to truly feel the weight of the dread that slowly builds and wears on you. It’s a movie that might resonate better on a second viewing, where the subtleties click more effectively. On first watch, though, it can feel like an obvious, occasionally underwhelming effort to capitalize on Cillian Murphy’s current star power—especially coming off the back of his towering, celebrated performance in Oppenheimer.
Emily Watson is second-billed here as Sister Mary, exuding an unsettling and sinister authority as the nun overseeing this reformatory arm of the Catholic Church. She embodies the cruel force behind the systemic exploitation of young women, essentially forcing them into cheap labor for the organization’s gain. Watson is quite good in the role—her restrained menace is palpable—but she doesn’t bring anything particularly new to the table. Evil nuns have been a recurring presence in cinema, even just this year in films like Immaculate and The First Omen, and Watson’s performance, while effective, feels like a familiar iteration.
There’s plenty to admire in Small Things Like These, but the individual components don’t quite coalesce into something as impactful or rewarding as its strongest moments. The film wrestles with familiar themes, poking at the Catholic Church in ways that feel well-trodden, and Tim Mielants struggles to uncover new ground or fresh perspective to distinguish this story. Ultimately, it’s Cillian Murphy who keeps the film grounded—his performance exudes a quiet, stubborn decency that remains innocent even as the weight of the world bears down on him.
Score: 6/10
- Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Michelle Fairley
- Director: Tim Mielants
- Genre: Drama
- Runtime: 99 minutes
- Rated: PG-13
- Release Date: November 8, 2024
- Read about Small Things Like These (2024) on Wikipedia and IMDb
More Movies Starring Cillian Murphy
Cillian Murphy has starred in the following movies:
- 28 Days Later (2002)
- Red Eye (2005)
- Inception (2010)
- Free Fire (2016)
- Dunkirk (2017)
- Oppenheimer (2023)
- Small Things Like These (2024)
More Movies Starring Emily Watson
Emily Watson has starred in the following movies:
- Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
- Corpse Bride (2005)
- The Theory of Everything (2014)
- Small Things Like These (2024)
More Movies Directed by Tim Mielants
Tim Mielants has directed the following movies:
- WILL (2023)
- Small Things Like These (2024)
