Rebecca S., Here…

“Brooklyn” is a sweet look at life in a 1950’s version of the borough for a young Irish immigrant. Saoirse Ronan plays Eilis, a naïve girl sent to America to find a better future and a life away from her small town with her devoted sister, played by Fiona Glascott.  While that is the over-all story being told here, it is also a story of a girl who meets boy. The movie itself is gorgeous and every location feels authentic, however the film drags in certain places, making it easy for the mind to wander at times.

When Eilis arrives in Brooklyn, she lives in a boarding house, with other wayward girls, run by Julie Walters, more commonly known as Mrs. Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films, who utterly steals the film. I would watch an entire movie of her eating dinner with the girls of the house.

Eilis’ Italian boyfriend Tony, played by Emory Cohen, is sappy and overly sweet in the way I think only movie boyfriends can be. There is something unrealistic about them, and set in a film where everything else is so painstakingly real, it is a little off-putting.

Something happens back in Ireland (not telling, no spoilers here) that brings Eilis back to her homeland, where she is sought after by another seemingly perfect man. So much of her life is spent defining who she will be with a man and not who she is on her own is disappointing to the feminist in me, but she does have lovely options in her “gentleman callers”.

Ultimately, the movie boils down to whether she will stay in Ireland and be all the things the town expects of her, or if she will return to Brooklyn to the life she has made. I was pleased with her choice and everything she seemed to have learned in her time growing in America.

I believe that ‘Brooklyn‘ would be an excellent choice for a girls night out. There is a lot of camaraderie between the women of the film and, despite the fact that it is a love story, the movie really focuses on all of those relationships together in a beautiful way.

4 out of 5 Stars

– Rebecca Steinberg