Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’ is a personal look back

Above : Jude Hill stars in “Belfast,” which was written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. It opens Friday. (Photo/Focus Features)

Time was, Kenneth Branagh was known for his Shakespeare adaptations. Films such as “Henry V,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Hamlet” and “Love’s Labour’s Lost” among others.

Most of which he both directed and starred in.

But, too, he’s directed more mainstream product. Films such as “Dead Again,” “Thor,” “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” and “Murder on the Orient Express” – only some of which he starred in.

Branagh’s latest effort is “Belfast,” which he wrote and directed (but doesn’t act in, even though he himself as a Belfast, Northern Ireland, native). The film opens on Friday.

Featuring a cast that includes Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds, along with 9-year-old newcomer Jude Hill, “Belfast” is set in the late 1960s and attempts to capture the experience of a family caught in that era’s sectarian violence.

Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Branagh’s genuine affection and nostalgia for his subject suffuse the movie; if only the misty romanticism of his story could match it.”

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle was more charitable. “The acting is brilliant across the board, starting with Jude Hill,” he wrote, “who really does seem like a nine-year-old Branagh and doesn’t have a false moment on screen.”

The week’s other opening:

“Clifford the Big Red Dog” (opening today): Based on the Scholastic Book Series, this family film features a middle-school girl whose new puppy grows overnight 10 feet tall – and the expected high jinks ensues.

Angie Han of the Hollywood Reporter wrote, “There’s a place for sturdy and familiar entertainment that delivers exactly what it intends, and ‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ is just that.”

That’s it for the moment. So go, see a movie. And enjoy.