Film

Small Things Like These

Name: Small Things Like These
Genre: Drama
Released: 2024
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Michelle Fairley, Eileen Walsh, Zara Devlin

Drama
Very dark

A quiet man discovers unspeakable secrets at his small Irish town's convent in 1985. Cillian Murphy carries this contemplative drama about complicity, shame, and the long reach of institutional abuse. It's intimate rather than angry—a study of conscience in a place where silence is safer than truth.

TMDb rating

3.3

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Small Things Like These

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

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Brooklyn2015

Saoirse Ronan navigates identity and belonging between Ireland and America. Tender, beautifully composed, with Emily Watson's presence connecting the two films. Period warmth without sugar-coating.

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The Banshees of Inisherin2022

Two men in a small Irish island face silence and mystery in their fractured friendship. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in a blackly comic meditation on shame, secrets, and what we owe each other.

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Room2015

Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay in an intimate story about trauma's aftermath and rebuilding. Similarly focused on internal damage and the slow work of healing rather than outrage.

But Intensely claustrophobic and emotionally heavy. Some viewers find the subject matter too difficult to sit with, trauma-wise.

Manchester by the Sea2016

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But Very slow-paced and sad without offering redemption or resolution. American setting rather than Irish, but similarly inward.

Once Were Warriors1994

New Zealand family drama exposing violence and institutional failure within a Māori community. Raw, uncompromising, and structurally similar in showing how systems collude in suffering.

But Much more viscerally brutal. The violence is explicit and hard to watch in ways Small Things keeps offscreen.

The Guard2011

Brendan Gleeson in a smaller-scale Irish drama about a rural policeman and moral complexity. Drier humor, similar setting, explores complicity and choices in a small-town ecosystem.

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Requiem for a Dream2000

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