Rating: 4.5/5
Independent and bold, yet delicately fragile, the Irish drama-romance “Brooklyn” powerfully portrays the immigrant’s dilemma for all families: the struggle to redefine home. Led by Irish film and theatre director John Crowley, known for “Intermission” (2003) and “Boy A” (2007), “Brooklyn” tells the story of a young woman named Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) and her journey away from her family in Ireland to New York City in the 1950s. Adapted from Colm Toibin’s novel, the film explores the conflict of being an outsider, deciding where to live, and who to love. Dominated by commanding, beautiful performances from Ronan and Emory Cohen, who plays Eilis’ Italian boyfriend Tony, “Brooklyn” uses humor and tragedy well to balance the joy and sadness of making a new life.
Eilis’s brave innocence commands attention from the first turning point of the movie: her move to America to find a job. Of course, leaving her mother and sister is no easy task and, as we see on the boat set for New York, Eilis’ story is not unique. Countless Irish teens and young adults stand on the boat’s deck, bound for the same, foreign land.
Immediately, Crowley distinguishes the universality of Eilis’s story. After suffering the hardships of the journey, including seasickness and horrible meat stew, Eilis finally arrives to her Brooklyn boarding house to meet her young, giddy American roommates. With her first American dinner, meals, become checkpoints, often comically, for Eilis’ settling into US culture, especially with the eccentric boarding house manager, Mrs. Brady (Emma Lowe). Monitoring the girls’ bickering and gossip about boys, Brady serves as Eilis’ foster parent, praising her maturity in contrast to initial bullying by her roommates. Yet, this bullying seems more playful than malicious, and Eilis soon earns the respect of her American roommates when she meets Tony, an Italian boy, at a local dance. Despite extreme homesickness, the first half of the film is quite fun and optimistic as we experience the incredible color of 1950s America through Eilis hopeful eyes.
Of course it can’t last, and new, exciting life in America comes into conflict with life at home. Eilis must constantly battle homesickness and fight each day to mask her pain, with few who understand her struggle aside from Mrs. Brady and the priest whom her family knows. She breaks down at work, writes home often, and even clutches her sister’s letter in bed like a baby hanging onto its mother. The exciting, adventure of finding new love comes with such devastating sadness, reminding us Eilis still lives in both worlds. As she seeks to make a life with Tony in America, she remains part of her family in Ireland, a relationship that develops to a breaking point where Eilis must decide who to let go.
Nothing in “Brooklyn” comes easy, and Eilis’ intellect and ambition make her decisions incredibly difficult. Settling into a job, choosing between Tony and her family in Ireland, or deciding where to call home are only a few of her struggles. What makes her character and Ronan’s performance so special is her agency.
While not in control of her status as an immigrant, Eilis shows bold independence; she understands the implications of her actions, lending conscious vulnerability and maturity to her decisions. It’s not that Eilis doesn’t understand the pain she must face; it’s that she decides to face that pain with such emotional conviction. This level of honest vulnerability is what distinguishes “Brooklyn” so well, examining the immigrant’s story so genuinely as marked by ecstatic discovery and nostalgic loss.
Thomas Crandall
Latest posts by Thomas Crandall (see all)
- Luscious Absurdity in “Elvis & Nixon” – May 7, 2016
- “Everybody Wants Some” Is Far More than Jocks and Girls – Apr 26, 2016
- Quirky, Fun Tragedy in “Hello, My Name is Doris” – Apr 9, 2016