Sightlines · reception
How Small Things Like These was received
2024 · Tim Mielants · Small Things Like These on Sightlines
The arc
Opened the 2024 Berlinale to warm reviews as Cillian Murphy's first lead after Oppenheimer, then slipped through cinemas so quietly that it's since become a 'why did nobody see this?' cause — championed as one of 2024's most underseen films and a notable awards-season snub.
What’s debated
The perennial split: is its extreme restraint quietly devastating or just too slight — with Claire Keegan devotees insisting the novella's interiority can't fully survive the screen.
Its footprint
It's become part of Ireland's ongoing public reckoning with the Magdalene laundries, regularly discussed alongside The Magdalene Sisters and Philomena as cinema doing the remembering a country long avoided.
Where it stands
A quiet Letterboxd favorite and 'trust me on this one' recommendation — the underseen gem of Murphy's post-Oppenheimer run.
Did you know? It was the first film from Cillian Murphy's production company Big Things Films, backed by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's Artists Equity — and Emily Watson took home the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance when it opened the 2024 Berlin Film Festival.