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Small Things Like These (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Lionsgate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (28th January 2025). |
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The Film
 Oscar® winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as devoted father Bill Furlong in this film based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Claire Keegan. While working as a coal merchant to support his family, he discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent - and uncovers truths of his own - forcing him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.
Video
Tim Mielants' highly regarded film - 93% on Rotten Tomatoes - about the Magdalene Laundries scandal gets the barebones treatment from Lionsgate here in the UK. It"# set in 1985 and the scandal broke the news in 1993. This is grim drama based on true events based on a 2021 novel by Claire Keegan. Surprisingly, it favours a naturalistic colour palette; not a desaturated one as many modern films of serious, adult intent or dark themes do, but the colours do have presence. Blacks, grays and browns are the watchword of this film's look but primaries do occasionally pop out (it's partially set at Christmas) especially on interiors. I couldn't find much online about the technical specs (IMDB just lists it as a DCP Digital Cinema Package) but I'd guess it was shot digitally in 4K. Black levels are satisfyingly dark and rich with a fair amount of shadow detail coming through. Contrast is surprisingly punchy with fine detail allowed to shine along all focal planes. I saw little by of grain (it is digital after all). 1985 sequences and interiors are warmer, exteriors are wintery cool along with flashbacks. Encoding is strong; I saw no signs of digital tinkering ('A'). 1080p24 / AVC MPEG-4 / BD50 / 1.66:1 / 98:35
Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz) English Audio Description DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (48kHz) Subtitles: English HoH A modern track with plenty of range, lots of depth. It's not an action film or slice of escapism so surrounds are mainly for ambiance and scoring, dialogue across the front sound stage. It's an excellent representation of the films theatrical soundtrack. I heard very little use of the subwoofer, perhaps a little with dramatic scoring but it's just not that kind of film. The hard of hearing subtitles are fine and get the job done and on the sections I tested seemed to catch all the dialogue. The audio descriptive track has decent base but is basic stereo; surrounds are activated when played via ProLogic II (or similar) and is very well done ('A').
Extras
"Behind the Scenes" 2023 featurette (8:54) A brief puff piece promo featurette with no title sequence or credits, talking heads, B-roll footage and clips presented in 1080p 2.00:1 with lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (48kHz).
Packaging
Blue Blu-ray keepcase.
Overall
A highly regarded drama about the Magdalene Laundries Scandal gets a virtually barebones release from Lionsgate in the UK. It's a new film so image and sound are about as good as can be shy of a 4K UHD BD release. The only extra is a brief behind the scenes piece with talking heads and B-roll footage; not much depth in it. A decent release for the cheap price ('B-').
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