Cillian Murphy's new movie, which has been dubbed "powerful" and "absorbing," has received rave reviews from critics . Small Things Like These is set against the backdrop of the Magdalene Laundries in 1980s Ireland .
An adaptation of Claire Keegan's acclaimed novel, the work chronicles a distressing chapter in Irish history . Murphy plays Bill Furlong, a coal merchant who becomes privy to secret abuses happening inside his local convent.
The movie trailer dropped on Monday and sets a gloomy, dramatic scene for the film which takes place in Co Wexford over Christmas 1985. Viewers couldn't wait to comment on the "haunting and meditative work" .
Taking to Rotten Tomatoes, Ben Croll commented: "The quiet register encourages our own reflections on the very moral concerns time and circumstance have made unavoidable in the present day each and every day."
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Lou Thomas scribed: " Murphy again leads with aplomb and his casting alone will likely bring a bigger audience to this intelligent adaptation of Claire Keegan’s novel of the same name ."
Peter Bradshaw gushed: "I was so rapt, so caught up in this film, that I wasn’t aware that it was going to be the ending until the screen faded to black . It is an absorbing, committed drama."
Some movie buffs were not as bowled over, though. Many pointed out the unresolvedness that pervades the flick, while others weren't as moved by the film's largely quiet moments , which have been praised in other reviews.
Olivia Popp said: "The difficult moments that puncture Bill’s daily life are propped up on a skeleton frame of close-ups on the (always-effective) harrowed eyes of Murphy, but it’s not enough to fill in the emotional blanks."
Stephanie Bunbury continued: "Without any dramatic tension to carry us along, we’re all just stuck knee-deep in the bog, trudging through the terrible facts of recent history ."
Brent Hankins concluded: "There are no easy answers here, and no tidy resolution; instead, it leaves the audience grappling with unresolved questions about individual responsibility , societal pressures, and the long-lasting wounds inflicted by systemic abuse."
Tens of thousands of women were forced into unpaid labor and subjected to severe psychological and physical maltreatment at the laundries from 1922 until 1996.
The secretive institutions were run by religious orders around Ireland and went unchecked until 1993 , when 155 bodies were found buried on the grounds of a former Dublin convent during a land sale.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Murphy, who is close to marking a year since making history as the first Irish-born man to win Best Actor at the Oscar's , said the film is "so seemingly simple" but is actually "incredibly complex".
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He added: “It’s massively intertwined with Irish people, our history and our culture and trauma . I feel that sometimes art is a gentler way of addressing or confronting that than, perhaps, government reports or academic papers.”
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