''A Belfast Story'' is a 2013 Irish crime film written and directed by Nathan Todd and starring

Colm Meaney Colm J. Meaney (; ga, Colm Ó Maonaigh; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor known for playing Miles O'Brien in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994) and '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999). He has guest-starred on many T ...

. It is Todd's directorial debut.

Plot

A BELFAST STORY explores life after terrorism. Set in a city which has weathered hundreds of years of hatred, 30 years of bombs, and a war without winners, just victims. A new era brings new risks. There is peace, but that can also be deadly

Cast

as Detective * Malcolm Sinclair as Chief Constable *

Maggie Cronin Maggie Cronin is an Irish actress and playwright. The short film '' The Shore'' directed by Terry George, in which she appears with Ciarán Hinds, Conleth Hill and Kerry Condon, won the Academy award in the Short Film, Live Action category at 84t ...

as Sinead *Tommy O'Neill as First Minister Owen McKenna *Damien Hasson as Damien *Patrick Rocks as Eammon *Peter O'Toole as Alley victim

Reception

The film received negative reviews and has a 14% "Rotten" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Stephen Dalton of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote in his review, "Nathan Todd attempts something similar in his debut feature, a murder mystery with political overtones, but his inexperience lets him down badly." He also added, "not even eaney'sheavyweight gravitas can save ''A Belfast Story'' from its weak script, sluggish pacing and one-dimensional characters." Steve Rose of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote, "the plot scatters too many pieces about, putting the film's star off screen for long stretches."

Controversy

A month before its release, the film garnered controversy in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

for the filmmakers' publicity stunt of sending a

nail bomb A nail bomb is an anti-personnel explosive device containing nails to increase its effectiveness at harming victims. The nails act as shrapnel, leading almost certainly to more injury in inhabited areas than the explosives alone would. A nail ...

kit to the media to promote the film. Nathan Todd later issued an apology.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belfast Story 2013 films 2013 crime films Films scored by Nick Glennie-Smith Films set in Belfast Films from Northern Ireland 2013 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films