Brooklyn
Go! A true romance.
Conflicted loves, home and abroad.
It seems like cinematic romance is dead. Or it is at least muddling along on meagre life support, relying on an intravenous drip of brief moments in comic book movies the occasional predictable rom-com and - of course - the lovey-dovey world of Fifty Shades sado-masochism. The Black Eyed Peas feat. Justin Timberlake recognised the deficit years ago and are still quite rightly asking, where in fact is the love? With a screenplay by Nick Hornby (An Education, Wild) Brooklyn dives through our windows like the returning Milk Tray man in an attempt to rescue romance from its demise and hopefully, all of humanity along with it (if that's not asking too much).
Rather than being a story about how the Beckhams' first child was conceived, Brooklyn takes us back to the 1950s. Eilis (Saoirse Ronan, The Grand Budapest Hotel) has secured sponsorship in the USA, allowing her to move to New York from her parochial Irish town, where her prospects had seemed limited. After an initial struggle, she finds both her feet and a sweet American boy to love. However, her heart faces a challenge when she returns home for a brief summer stay, and is forced to choose between the life she left behind and the one she has newly assumed.
It begins in a deeply stereotypical Irish setting, with broad accents and more read-heads than dinner after school at Ron Weasley's house. While it could otherwise have descended into a fragile, twee ornament, better suited for the dusty mantle-piece of 90s ITV than a big screen release in 2015, Brooklyn holds its nerve; consistently staying on the right side of charming. It goes from height to height as it gracefully glides from Ireland across the Atlantic and inevitably soars into the fluffy canopy of your emotions.
"Charm" is the essence of Brooklyn. It is refreshing to watch a film reminiscent of a more innocent time, when three cinematic women can visit the bathroom of a tea dance and the only lines drawn are those of perfectly red lipstick. There are gems of emerald Irish wit to be mined from every crevice of the script, and an enchanting female cast who polish and present them. The American immigrants (both Italian and Irish) and the Irish villagers are all neatly packaged and well-executed characters, with acting institution Julie Walters (Harry Potter Series) particularly wonderful as the Irish matriarch of Eilis' Brooklyn boarding house. The biggest plaudits, however, go to the two leads - Ronan as Eilis and Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines) as her Italian American love-interest, Antonio.
"Charm" is the essence of Brooklyn. It is refreshing to watch a film reminiscent of a more innocent time, when three cinematic women can visit the bathroom of a tea dance and the only lines drawn are those of perfectly red lipstick. There are gems of emerald Irish wit to be mined from every crevice of the script, and an enchanting female cast who polish and present them. The American immigrants (both Italian and Irish) and the Irish villagers are all neatly packaged and well-executed characters, with acting institution Julie Walters (Harry Potter Series) particularly wonderful as the Irish matriarch of Eilis' Brooklyn boarding house. The biggest plaudits, however, go to the two leads - Ronan as Eilis and Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines) as her Italian American love-interest, Antonio.
Cohen is asked to play an increasingly rare on screen character - the uncomplicated, caring, modest and gentlemanly male. His smooth and patient courting of Eilis is a joy to watch. He harmonises perfectly with Ronan who is becoming a formidable performer after a series of compelling roles. From the loneliness and anxiety of relocating, to the transformative and intoxicating excitement of a foreign adventure, Eilis' steady evolution throughout the film from a nervous, homesick ingénue to a dynamic, composed woman is pitch perfect. Her vulnerability is never overwrought and like a master phlebotomist, Ronan and her eventual conflict will inevitably draw warm emotion from even the most hardy of souls.
So go. Ultimately, this is simply a film about people falling in love in fairly normal circumstances, but to make something so straightforward into something so effortlessly alluring is what makes Brooklyn a credit to the genre. Romance. Is. Back.
So go. Ultimately, this is simply a film about people falling in love in fairly normal circumstances, but to make something so straightforward into something so effortlessly alluring is what makes Brooklyn a credit to the genre. Romance. Is. Back.