‘I wish that I could stop feeling that I want to be an Irish girl in Ireland…’
I’m starting to suspect that Saoirse Ronan might just be the finest actor of her generation. Little Women, Ladybird, Atonement… but also Brooklyn. This film for me is probably her finest performance. She was unlucky to lose out to Brie Larson for her turn in Room at the 2016 Oscars but that doesn’t take away from the sheer power of this performance. I can’t recall a film in which any actor had me rooting for their character as much as I was gunning for Eilis to succeed here. I think I love her a little bit…
Eilis (Ronan) arrives in Brooklyn as an Irish immigrant in the 1950s to forge a better life for herself than a job in a shop and dreary Saturday night dances at the local rugby club. Moving away from her mother and sister is tougher than expected, however, and Eilis struggles until she meets Tony (Emory Cohen), an Italian-American with a big heart (and an even bigger love of the LA Dodgers).
Brooklyn isn’t a flashy film. The plot could be taken from the diary entries of any Irish girl who moved to America in the ’50s. The direction is competent rather than bombastic. The score is utterly beautiful but never intrusive. What makes Brooklyn such an unstoppable triumph is Ronan’s powerhouse performance and Nick Hornby’s sweeping, sentimental script. The latter injects genuine warmth and humour into this simple tale of an immigrant Irish girl while the latter delivers those lines wonderfully. It’s a heady mix and one that evokes the Golden Age of Hollywood whilst still feeling modern.
I watch so many films and yet it’s rare that something genuinely moves me. Brooklyn is one such film. Massively underrated. I laughed. I cried. This is cinema.
