Belfast and Clifford

Director Kenneth Branagh revisits his own childhood in "Belfast," which immerses us in the troubled times in Northern Ireland in 1969. Although HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano have a mixed response to this nostalgic drama, this podcast episode acknowledges how well Branagh uses the black-and-white cinematography to emphasize the bleakness of the setting. And while they note that the film's story and its tone are uneven, they also agree that this film has crowd-pleasing appeal. In this episode, Marie and Mike also discuss "Clifford the Big Red Dog." Going into the film with relatively low expectations, they concur that this family-friendly film is fun to watch.