This is a film headlining Saoirse Ronan so no matter the story, direction or script it will not be bad, she is incapable of putting in a bad performance.
Right from the start it is clear the film is love letter to all those Irish citizens who took the big step of leaving their home country, family and loved ones to start a new life in the USA knowing that they would probably never see them or their home country ever again. Bearing that in mind it is no surprise that the story and action make a significant and hard attempt and plucking your heart strings. Depending on your tolerance to this type of manipulation will depend how you view the film.
For me, particularly after Eilis returns to Ireland, this was maybe a tad too heavy handed but at no point did it spoil my enjoyment of the story. In particular Saoirse Ronan performance papers over and cracks with an easy skill. She portrays the yearning for something new, the utter heart-breaking loneliness, utter love and then desperate confusion with the nuances of an actor many times her senior. In particular I have never seen anyone display with just their face the complete desolation of really feeling homesick in the shop scene, absolutely brilliant and overwhelmingly sad. Although it already seems the small, amateur review is the work of the full-time Saorise Ronan Fan Club it has to be said. Never has it been proved how important a great actor is to a story.
Luckily for us all the rest of the cast are not outshone by Saorise. Emory Cohen as Tony portrays against stereo-type be being a young, charming, nice, Italian-America boy with a nice friendly Italian-American family, not a white vest and swearing and arm-waving in sight eh Don Juan? Domhnall Gleeson in a smaller but pivotal role is also at the top of his game, particularly as it asks him to show an overwhelming feeling of loneliness and love while being restrained by the macho world of the Irish male – not an easy task but completed very well.
The on top of this we get Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent, we are really spoiled. Both experienced actors are given roles that play against Hollywood stereo-type and the film is so much better for it. It was unbelievable joy to see an Irish priest actually just being a nice Irish priest, after all it’s not like there’s a shortage of horrible ones on the silver screen recently.
Brooklyn was adapted to script form by Nick Hornby and although I have not always been onside with some of this writing but for a man he seems to know how to right from a woman’s point of view, although obviously being a man I’m eminently unqualified to judge this. Certainly this film is great testament to the many people who poured across the ocean to start a new life in the United States and it can be forgiven the treacle, selling Ireland a bit short and being unable to resist the romanticised downtrodden homeless Irishman singing a beautiful song to a silent room of down and outs but it you manipulating emotions is what entertainment is all about. Brooklyn is designed to make you feel sad but a little happy and it works.
Brooklyn is a good film. Everyone involved in it are at the top of their game and this whitewashes any flaws you feel it might have. It’s not perfect and is definitely a manipulation on your emotions but so what?
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2016-08-11T10:46:14Z
This is a film headlining Saoirse Ronan so no matter the story, direction or script it will not be bad, she is incapable of putting in a bad performance.
Right from the start it is clear the film is love letter to all those Irish citizens who took the big step of leaving their home country, family and loved ones to start a new life in the USA knowing that they would probably never see them or their home country ever again. Bearing that in mind it is no surprise that the story and action make a significant and hard attempt and plucking your heart strings. Depending on your tolerance to this type of manipulation will depend how you view the film.
For me, particularly after Eilis returns to Ireland, this was maybe a tad too heavy handed but at no point did it spoil my enjoyment of the story. In particular Saoirse Ronan performance papers over and cracks with an easy skill. She portrays the yearning for something new, the utter heart-breaking loneliness, utter love and then desperate confusion with the nuances of an actor many times her senior. In particular I have never seen anyone display with just their face the complete desolation of really feeling homesick in the shop scene, absolutely brilliant and overwhelmingly sad. Although it already seems the small, amateur review is the work of the full-time Saorise Ronan Fan Club it has to be said. Never has it been proved how important a great actor is to a story.
Luckily for us all the rest of the cast are not outshone by Saorise. Emory Cohen as Tony portrays against stereo-type be being a young, charming, nice, Italian-America boy with a nice friendly Italian-American family, not a white vest and swearing and arm-waving in sight eh Don Juan? Domhnall Gleeson in a smaller but pivotal role is also at the top of his game, particularly as it asks him to show an overwhelming feeling of loneliness and love while being restrained by the macho world of the Irish male – not an easy task but completed very well.
The on top of this we get Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent, we are really spoiled. Both experienced actors are given roles that play against Hollywood stereo-type and the film is so much better for it. It was unbelievable joy to see an Irish priest actually just being a nice Irish priest, after all it’s not like there’s a shortage of horrible ones on the silver screen recently.
Brooklyn was adapted to script form by Nick Hornby and although I have not always been onside with some of this writing but for a man he seems to know how to right from a woman’s point of view, although obviously being a man I’m eminently unqualified to judge this.
Certainly this film is great testament to the many people who poured across the ocean to start a new life in the United States and it can be forgiven the treacle, selling Ireland a bit short and being unable to resist the romanticised downtrodden homeless Irishman singing a beautiful song to a silent room of down and outs but it you manipulating emotions is what entertainment is all about. Brooklyn is designed to make you feel sad but a little happy and it works.
Brooklyn is a good film. Everyone involved in it are at the top of their game and this whitewashes any flaws you feel it might have. It’s not perfect and is definitely a manipulation on your emotions but so what?