Now here’s something you don’t see every day – a sweet and innocent romance. We should just go ahead right now and label the film ‘Brooklyn’ as fifty shades of decent.
But then, it’s not just the fluttering hearts that makes director Nick Hornby’s picture so wonderful and safe. After endless early-to-mid century immigration experiences painted by filmmakers like Scorsese, who usually aren’t content until blood spills and chaos reigns, it’s refreshing to see a story about a wide-eyed kid from across the pond who comes to America and doesn’t swerve into a full-blown nightmare.
Not that there aren’t challenges. And heartbreak. But at the heart of ‘Brooklyn’ is a tale of hope. And who doesn’t need that?
An extraordinary yet rather unassuming period piece, ‘Brooklyn’ features a star-making turn for Saoirse Ronan (‘Atonement’, ‘The Lovely Bones’) as Eilis, a young Irish woman who turns her back on her depressed birthplace and sets sail for the land of opportunity. In Brooklyn, she overcomes initial homesickness and falls head over heels for a working-class Italian American (Emory Cohen). But when tragedy calls her back to Ireland, a journey that suddenly finds her seeing promise in her homeland, she has a difficult decision to make.
If it all sounds stereotypically sappy, it’s not. Sure, it’s sentimental – but ‘Brooklyn’ has a magical way of exuding goodness without making you feel like all involved are selling out. It’s a very human, very honest film that I could easily envision grandkids seeing with grandparents and all would not only enjoy, but benefit. And really, how many movies can pull THAT off??
