Stuck between two worlds, torn between two loves, altered between the memories of the past and the wants of the future, Brooklyn, a John Crowley’s adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel, is a period film worth its running time.
Brooklyn tells a moving story of Eilis Lacey (played by Saoirse Ronan), a young Irish immigrant who flies to America and struggles to acclimatize through 1950s Brooklyn. She has lived her whole life in Ireland, but then swept away to America, being convinced by her thoughtful sister into becoming a confident woman in foreign land.
In Brooklyn, Eilis meets Tony Fiorello (played by Emory Cohen), an Italian-American plumbing assistant who lives with his family in a poor neighborhood. They don’t even meet for half an hour of screen time, as they only meet past halfway, at a local dance organized by Father Flood (played by Jim Broadbent) for Irish immigrants. Just as things get better between Tony and Eilis, she goes back to her home to cope with a family tragedy, as her sister who convinced her to face a new life somewhere far from their home, passed away.
She might have started loving her new life, but the forces of homesickness, guilt, and the attentions of kind, handsome local country-fellow Jim Farrell (played by Domhnall Gleeson) cause confusion for Eilis. Her inner conflict plays out with intense sensitivity and understatement. But in the end, Eilis has to break someone’s heart, as the more she delays the decision, the bigger the breakage.
From the main characters down to the walk-on roles, everyone gives enough eccentricity to convince and pull us deeply into the story. Through the chemistry between Saoirse Ronan and Emory Cohen’s roles, Crowley achieved something close to a miracle – an old-fashioned-but-gives-you-shivers kind of serendipity that is so special it can’t be even predicted.
The story is simple and typical. It gives a strange yet wonderful feeling of being drowned in a deep ocean of metaphorical words and emotions. It gives audience this feeling of wanting to go back to those old days where majority of us weren’t born yet. The film truly has been gifted with an extraordinary lead actor, too. Not knowing she’s an Irish native, it seemed that Ronan has put on a very Irish-girl build on the character. She’s alert, intelligent and emotionally alive as her character.
Additionally, it will be senseless not to praise a film that shows much emphasis on telling such a common story and places. It does not have to be a big-budget epic that sweeps ticket sales, rather it is a small story that bears on the experiences of millions, getting across without losing sight of the personal rule on which it’s being told. – Camille Caguioa