I Am Belfast, film review: Mark Cousins combines history with humour

(15) Mark Cousins, 84 mins, featuring: Mark Cousins (voice), Helena Bereen

The film takes the form of a dialogue between Cousins and 'Belfast', embodied as a Mother Courage-like woman

I Am Belfast, Mark Cousins' documentary about his home town, is a wonderfully particular and eccentric affair. Rather than take us through Belfast's past (the industrial history, the troubles etc) in the usual chronological fashion, he opts an impressionistic approach.

The film takes the form of a dialogue between Cousins and "Belfast", embodied as a Mother Courage-like woman (Helena Bereen). He combines archive footage with imagery of modern day Belfast, some of it shot by Wong Kar-wai's cinematographer Chris Doyle.

Cousins doesn’t ignore the bloodshed and sectarian violence (the pub bombings, the killings, the evictions) in the city’s recent past but he also has a genius for finding the poetry and humour in everyday street scenes.