Brooklyn

2015 • 111 minutes

About this movie

BROOKLYN is the story of a young woman, Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) who immigrates from a small town in Ireland to Brooklyn, NY, where, unlike home, she has the opportunity for work, a future - and love, in the form of Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen). However when Eilis returns temporarily to Ireland she finds herself absorbed into her old community, but now with eligible Jim (Domhnall Gleeson) courting her. As she repeatedly postpones her return to America, Eilis finds herself confronting a terrible dilemma - a heart-breaking choice between two countries and two futures. 2015 Wildgaze Films (Brooklyn) Ltd / Coproductions Item 7 Inc / Parallel Films (Brooklyn) Limited / British Broadcasting Corporation / The British Film Institute

Ratings and reviews

It's a love dilemma story where a young girl feeling like there's nothing in Ireland for her in the 1950's heads for the end of the rainbow in Brooklyn, New York, where in post-WW2 half of Ireland have gone too. A love dilemma between places, people and cultures. An intelligent tear-jerker, I guess, which reminded me very much of Circle of Friends in various ways. Beautifully acted, directed and shot. Gripping central performance by Saoirse Ronan with Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent as always, ably supporting. It's a bit of a slow-burner at times, but because of the developing story, which, OK, sometimes is a little predictable, drives you on. I would thoroughly recommend it for a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Don't normally watch films like this, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It's a quality film, albeit one that's light on story, which is testament to the actors and director, who make it interesting in subtle and nuanced ways. A career-best performance by Saoirse Ronan, too, who has yet to put a step wrong.

This film is all about being happy with what you got and not going after something superficial, when it's offered to you. Makes you think of life