Review of the movie “Brooklyn“

“ You'll feel so homesick that you'll want to die, and there's nothing you can do about it apart
from endure it. But you will, and it won't kill you. And one day the sun will come out.“

“Brooklyn“ is a 2015 romantic drama film directed by John Crowley and written by Nick

Hornby, based on Colm Tóibín's novel “Brooklyn“, that follows the coming-of-age years of
Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), an Irish immigrant in 1950s Brooklyn, New York. Critics have
lavished the film with unanimous acclaim for its nostalgic postcard charm.

The setting’s the small Irish town of Enniscorthy (Tóibín’s birthplace) in the early
’50s, where young Eilis Lacey feels her life is going nowhere. Then, right out of the blue,
comes the chance to move to New York, where a job and a new life await her – a dazzling but
terrifying prospect. And so, like thousands of Irish immigrants before her, Eilis crosses an
ocean to start a new life. Still, she goes, is at first lonely, homesick and overwhelmed, but
gradually starts to adjust, to fit in, even to relish the tumult and glamour of the huge city. And
she finds love. But then a death calls her back home, temporarily as she thinks – and there it
seems another kind of life, another love may be on offer.

At an Irish community dance, Eilis meets Tony (Emory Cohen), an Italian boy who
has an off-putting, specific interest in Irish girls. Nevertheless, they fall in love. Their dates
are some of the loveliest scenes in “Brooklyn,” but they’re also painfully predictable. The two
lovers go see “Singing in the Rain,” and Tony imitates the musical’s eponymous dance
number while they stroll through a park. They even go to Coney Island, which is painted in
candied pastels. These scenes are pleasant and nostalgic. Tony asks Eilis to meet his family
before they’ve even had their first onscreen kiss. Eilis marries Tony halfway through the
movie.

Ironically, the film’s most interesting moments don’t take place in Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn” finally picks up a conflict when Eilis returns to Ireland for a funeral, but the plot
stays contrived. As odd as it sounds, Eilis faces her deepest dilemma when she has such a
good time in Ireland that she no longer wants to go back to Brooklyn — where she also has a
pretty good time. She’s torn over a tough choice, but anyone else would be happy to be in her
shoes.

We can feel, with Eilis, the conflict between her two lives, her two selves. Her
relationship with Tony cures her homesickness when she first settles in Brooklyn. Back in
Ireland, she mainly wants to stay because she meets another boy, Jim Farrell (Domhnall
Gleeson). But, in the end, she is really of one self. She knows enough of who she is to make
the right choice, not without regrets, and the miracle of this film is that we can see, as she
gracefully unfolds for us, how she got that way.