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12

yes i am crying over a single biscuit

3

they really got the feeling of when you're a child and things just happen to you and everything dimly feels like your fault.

amazing kid.

Review by David ★★★★★ Liked

Cinema as an empathy generating machine. The world from a nine-year old’s perspective, yet through my own eyes, it’s terrifying. A child’s life as the most vulnerable thing in the world. 94 minutes of drama, so beautifully crafted, it has to be seen on the big screen. It’s tight, and nothing is spared. All the info you need is there. When you’re given just enough of a beat to foreshadow even the next shot, and it then plays out as expected, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before. Everything clicks into place. This is absolute cinema.

5

Fully sobbed at the end when I realized how often we tend to take gestures, no matter how big or small, for granted. Whether it's someone brushing your hair, handing you a cookie or just watching tv with you, life's just a collection of those gestures and they should mean something each time.

1

"There's three lights now."

Empathy radiating from every shot, every small movement. No heroics, just care. "Minding" as a form of love, understanding.

Foster was a book that meant a lot to me as a teen, while still deathly in denial of the familial abuse/neglect I was in the throws of.

A beautiful understanding of that pain on display here, something truly special. Perfect filmmaking. Feeling fragile.

Love of my life in the credits, endlessly proud.

13

I don’t understand, why is no one talking about this? This is easily one of the best films of the year for me. I feel as though I have been giving out 5 stars left and right recently. If a film manages to make me feel this way and has a profound impact on me after watching then I’m giving it fucking 5 stars. It absolutely ruined me, that final scene is the most I’ve cried at a film in a good while.
 
It’s such a simple premise but it’s so effective. The way it’s shot is just genius, camera work at its very best. It’a ultimately incredibly grounded and wants to show us the importance of kindness and…

1

Quietly beautiful.
And I'm quietly crying.

2

O silêncio, muitas vezes, não é apenas o que falta; é o que sobra quando tudo ao redor se esgota. Não se trata apenas da ausência de ruído, mas da presença densa de tudo o que não encontra forma de se expressar. Ele pode ser um grito abafado, um trauma em estado bruto, um pedido de socorro que já não espera resposta. Há silêncios que protegem, mas também os que sufocam; silêncios impostos, silêncios escolhidos, silêncios que crescem como paredes entre o sujeito e o mundo. "A Menina Silenciosa" transita nesse território de sons calados e presenças invisíveis, escavando a fundo a experiência de uma infância apagada. Cáit, a menina que quase não fala, que quase não pesa, que quase…

2

Why don’t you just pull out my heart and beat me across the face? It’ll be a quicker death than if I drowned in my tears. I promise.

Review by cowboycorkery ★★★★★

The LOUD girl (me) sobbing and snotting all over Rathmines omniplex for the entirety of this film

8

You can always trust a Sean.

10

“We don’t want any shame in this house.”

A softly delivered but impactful drama about finding a home outside of ones family.

Don’t let the gentleness of this film fool you. At its heart it dares to challenge the tyrannical grip the concept of ‘the blood family’ has on Irish society. It looks at how relationships, both within the community and inside our own homes, are forged through the act of doing. Love is found in daily chores and conversations shared. It’s found in the 99th and 100th stroke of a hairbrush. It’s even found in the worry we feel for one another.

Did you know Irish families aren’t allowed to adopt Irish children? A birth parents rights are so…