Small Things Like These, the "masterpiece" drama starring Cillian Murphy, has just landed on Netflix after being added to the streaming service today.
Directed by Tim Mielants and adapted from Claire Keegan's 2021 novel of the same name, the film follows Murphy as a devoted father and coal merchant named Bill Furlong, who uncovers abuse at a local convent.
Set around Christmas in 1985, the film spotlights Ireland's Magdalene Laundries, Roman Catholic institutions that served as prison-like workhouses for tens of thousands of "fallen women".
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The logline reads: "In 1985, a devoted father finds a shivering girl in a shed and begins to unravel the tightly held secrets between his small Irish town and its convent."
Joining Murphy in the cast are stars including Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Clare Dunne, Helen Behan, and Emily Watson.
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Following its 2024 release, the film proved popular among critics and currently holds a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 124 reviews.
The Chicago Sun-Times described Small Things Like These as "a quietly powerful masterpiece", calling Murphy’s performance "quiet, almost small and yet grand".
"This is a masterclass in quiet acting, one that’s hard to shake once the credits roll," penned The Boston Globe.
"Small Things Like These, to paraphrase Walt Whitman, contains multitudes. A deep-dive character study anchored by Cillian Murphy’s fiercely internalised performance, Tim Mielant’s film is quietly emblematic of a changing Ireland," said The Irish Times.
Related: First look at Cillian Murphy in new drama role following Peaky Blinders exit
Screen International said of the film: "Subtly, Murphy limns the emotional make-up of a life that combines success and domestic contentment on one hand with, on the other, everyday disappointment and unhealed childhood scars."
"In lieu of sensationalizing the persecution of these young women, Small Things Like These compellingly casts its gaze onto the complicity of the community and the social architectures which uphold abuse," wrote The Globe and Mail.
Small Things Like These is Murphy's highest-rated drama on Rotten Tomatoes, his second-highest overall behind the 2023 animation Kensuke's Kingdom.
Small Things Like These is now streaming on Netflix.
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
