Smart, soulful immigrant tale
The American immigrant story comes to life in the lush and lovely “Brooklyn,” directed by John Crowley, with a screenplay adapted by Nick Hornby from Colm Toibin’s 2009 novel. In 1950s Enniscorthy, Ireland, young Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) strives for more than what her small town can offer.
Without job or marriage prospects at home, she takes the leap across the Atlantic to seek her fortune in New York City — Brooklyn, to be exact. Living in a boardinghouse filled with young Irish ladies, working in a department store, Eilis is desperately homesick for her sister Rose, and everything that’s familiar and comfortable.
That changes when her kindly immigration sponsor, Father Flood (Jim Broadbent), gets her into accounting classes at Brooklyn College, an opportunity to move up from the sales floor. It also helps that she meets a charming Italian guy, Tony (Emory Cohen), at a local Irish dance. Cohen, who first gained attention playing Bradley Cooper’s rascal son in “The Place Beyond the Pines,” is transformed in this role. He is revelatory as the hopelessly romantic
Brooklyn plumber smitten with Irish rose Eilis.
Of course, there are cultural obstacles. James DiGiacomo almost steals the whole film as Tony’s little brother Frankie, who declares, “We don’t like Irish people,” at the dinner table. Eilis has to learn to eat spaghetti like an Italian. But their love gives her a life in America, a reason to stay, a spark that allows her to thrive.
All too soon, a family death calls her back to the motherland, and Eilis finds that what she left behind wasn’t so bad after all. There’s her best friend, getting married; a wealthy eligible bachelor Jim (Domnhall Gleeson); new job opportunities. The comforts of home call to her. It’s a small town, but it could be a nice life, easier than scrapping and scraping by the big city.
But her heart belongs with Tony, even if her home and history are Irish.
“Brooklyn” is an evergreen, universal story. It captures the struggles and heartache of any immigrant living in and learning a new country, and it also rings entirely, almost painfully true for any young person who’s left behind a small town life for the siren call of the big city.
There are some indelible moments rendered in this film that are so honest about being new somewhere — lonely lunches at a new job, a lump in your throat that never goes away, isolation in the crush of a commuter crowd.
The film is gorgeously shot, with rich, crisp, naturalistic colors. It feels a bit like a colorized historical photograph, showcasing Ronan’s fresh-faced gorgeousness. She is the anchor of the film, with a performance that’s smart and soulful. Eilis is a person who feels and thinks profoundly. She never takes anything lightly, and her tortuous dilemma in choosing between two lives is tangible.
The drama doesn’t extend beyond that single choice, but it’s one that’s beautifully rendered and deeply felt. “Brooklyn” is at times swooningly romantic, but it’s so much more than just a love story. It’s a coming of age tale woven into America’s coming of age, and an experience that any person who’s set off for a bigger life can relate to on a molecular level.