Brooklyn (2015)
Directed by John Crowley
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
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34 films that influenced Brooklyn
What critics say influenced Brooklyn
Her homesickness is relieved by the attentions of Tony (an attractive Cohen, channelling Brando in the opening reels of On The Waterfront), an Italian-American who seems far too good to be true.
Tony (Emory Cohen, who makes you think of Marlon Brando in his "On the Waterfront" era) is clearly not in Eilis' league: He's a plumber who isn't much for reading and writing, and still lives in a cramped apartment with his boisterous Italian family (a dinner scene with them is a highlight).
He's like a sunnier Terry Malloy, the actor even resembling the young Brando (and in fact, Cohen partially based his performance on "On the Waterfront").
Tapping into a rich seam of émigré cinema (Jim Sheridan’s 2002 In America is a distant cousin), Brooklyn beautifully evokes the sense of being torn between time, place and identity.
Screenwriter Nick Hornby ( An Education , Wild ) – author of the novels About a Boy and High Fidelity – follows in the tradition of other cautiously optimistic stories of assimilation like Avalon or In America .
There have been many movies about the experience of Irish immigrants to the United States, period and modern, good (“In America”) and bad (“Far And Away”).
Its real comparative cinematic brethren is the great “ In America ,” another film that wore its heart on its sleeve and dared the most cynical to remain cold-hearted.
What on Earth (or on any parallel planet of your choice) can contemporary cinema be doing crafting a lush 1950s-set love story, opulently scored, effulgently period-detailed and full of performances so stand-and-emote they might have been born in a Universal Pictures weepie, circa Magnificent Obsession (1954)?
In America, an influx of migration (predominantly from Europe, both pre- and post-war) has inspired countless films such as America, America (1963), The Godfather Part II (1974), Hester Street (1975), Sophie’s Choice (1982), Golden Door (2006), and the appropriately-titled The Immigrant (2013) with Marion Cotillard.
From The Godfather: Part II (1974) to The Immigrant (2013), when it comes to immigrants, Hollywood has long been interested in the workings of the underworld—the glamour and gore of the mafia, the plight of the prostitute, the ties that bind those of a common ancestry.
If you’ve seen any recent movies about the immigrant experience of those who came to America anytime in the early to mid-20th Century, whether it’s The Golden Door, James Gray’s The Immigrant or even a movie like Titanic, you’re likely to watch this new movie from author/screenwriter Nick Hornby and Irish stage director John Crowley (Intermission) expecting its protagonist to be in for a terrible experience.
Brooklyn could be seen as a sunnier, shallower variation on James Gray’s more harshly realistic (and brilliant) The Immigrant , or even a sweeter version of Tóibin’s more pungent novel—but that unfairly undervalues what Crowley, Hornby, and Ronan are doing.
Like a sunnier counterpart to 2013's beautiful yet painful The Immigrant, which had Marion Cotillard as a Polish émigré forced to make ends meet as a prostitute in 1920s New York, Brooklyn presents a colorful, confident portrait of the American Dream, with Ronan's levelheaded protagonist serving as a walking beacon of hope and optimism.
Some will discount Crowley’s film as a saccharine variation on James Gray ’s “The Immigrant” but that would sell this film short.
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In America, an influx of migration (predominantly from Europe, both pre- and post-war) has inspired countless films such as America, America (1963), The Godfather Part II (1974), Hester Street (1975), Sophie’s Choice (1982), Golden Door (2006), and the appropriately-titled The Immigrant (2013) with Marion Cotillard.
The movie that Eilis is too shy to chat with her colleague about is The Quiet Man, John Ford’s shimmering fantasy about a return to the Ireland in his mind.
The Quiet Man is even mentioned at one point.
With its quaint behavior (Eilis' housemates give the girl lessons in spaghetti-eating), innocent observations (it's taken for granted that when Tony sees Eilis in a bathing suit, it will be "the most he's ever seen" of her) and gentle humor (Julie Walters is outstanding as Eilis' tart, wise landlady), "Brooklyn" is steeped in nostalgia and sentiment, qualities often regarded as puerile or drippy (and peculiarly Irish — see "The Quiet Man," a movie name-dropped in the film).
Their first encounter could very well be an homage to West Side Story, with the boy and the girl from different backgrounds meeting at a dance.
In America, an influx of migration (predominantly from Europe, both pre- and post-war) has inspired countless films such as America, America (1963), The Godfather Part II (1974), Hester Street (1975), Sophie’s Choice (1982), Golden Door (2006), and the appropriately-titled The Immigrant (2013) with Marion Cotillard.
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Buoyed along by a beautiful Michael Brook score, “Brooklyn” is just the sort of escapist entertainment its own characters might have chosen had they paid their 65 cents for a night at the cinema way back in 1952, the year the film opens, when the infectiously nostalgic “Singin’ in the Rain” (which Ronan’s protagonist goes to see at one point) and the garishly square “The Greatest Show on Earth” vied for Oscars.
They have a sweet courtship that includes going out to movies like “Singin’ in the Rain” and having dinner with Tony’s large family, and are becoming increasingly serious when Eilis gets a call from home that requires her returning to Ireland.
Could it be that I’m just a big softie who smiled when they went to see “Singin’ in the Rain” and teared up on cue several times?
Her evolution mirrors her character's in the same way Jennifer Lawrence's did in "Winter's Bone," a breakout performance in a very different role.