Four stars. Rated PG-13, and rather harshly, for brief sensuality
By Derrick Bang
There’s a moment in this film
when Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) pauses at the top of the stairs in her home in
tiny Enniscorthy, Ireland.
Director John Crowley holds on
this hushed and wordless tableau, as Eilis thoroughly scans her bedroom, and
the room immediately adjoining. Ronan’s expression is intent and focused, her
carefully composed gaze a blend of determination and regret.
 |
| Eilis (Saoirse Ronan, second from right) listens warily as Mrs. Kehoe (Julie Walters, center rear) responds to some thinly veiled gibes from Patty (Emily Bett Rickards, far left) and Diana (Eve Macklin, second from left). Given half a chance, Eilis knows, Patty and Diana will make fun of her. |
And we understand that she’s
memorizing these rooms — this childhood haven where she grew up — certain in
the knowledge that she’ll never return. The realization is heartbreaking: one
of the most poignant leave-takings I’ve ever seen on the big screen.
Brooklyn is filled with emotionally powerful moments,
most given additional heft by Ronan’s exquisitely sensitive performance. She
has the added benefit of excellent material; Colm Tóibín’s acclaimed 2009 novel
of the same title has been deftly adapted by Nick Hornby, an excellent novelist
and screenwriter (About a Boy, An Education) with a strong sense of
dialogue and interpersonal dynamics.
This is a gentle, simple tale:
also an ironically timely one, given the current national — and international —
furor regarding immigrants. Crowley and Hornby couldn’t have anticipated such
real-world turbulence during production, and therefore cannot be credited (or
blamed) for deliberately creating subtle advocacy cinema.
At the same time, it’s nice to be
reminded of the American values that have made our “land of the free, home of
the brave” such a cherished destination for so many people from throughout the
world, and for so long.
Occasional cultural references
pinpoint this story in 1952 and ’53. Eilis has spent her entire life in
Enniscorthy; we meet her during a final shift at a local all-purpose shop run
by Miss “Nettles” Kelly (Brid Brennan), a condescending harridan who clearly
enjoys embarrassing her less refined customers.
Work is scarce throughout
Ireland, and under ordinary circumstances Eilis’ prospects would be extremely
limited. But she’s lucky; her older sister Rose (Fiona Glascott), with
assistance from Catholic priests on both sides of the Atlantic, has arranged
for Eilis to emigrate to Brooklyn, New York.
Departure is bittersweet at best;
although Eilis is excited, the bond with her sister is strong, as is a shared
concern for their somewhat frail and lonely mother (Jane Brennan), who never
fully recovered from her husband’s death.
The ocean journey, though not
without incident, is cleverly condensed by Hornby; it also sets up a “passing
it forward” encounter that comes to fruition, quite poignantly, toward the end
of the film.
