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| Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) in Brooklyn |
Brooklyn attracted three Academy Award nominations this year for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Adapted Screenplay. Although ultimately unsuccessful in the Awards, it's easy to see why this film attracted the attention of the film industry and the viewing public with its themes of identity, discovery, loss and relationships at many levels. A period drama set in the early 1950s the film traverses between Ireland and North America following the journey of a young Irish woman, Eilis Lacey as she seeks a new future in Brooklyn, New York, far from her home in the little town of Enniscorthy in southeast Ireland.
Eilis' older sister, Rose Lacey (Fiona Glascott) wants a better future for her younger sister and arranges for Eilis to migrate to the United States following a well worn sea journey travelled by many Irish to America. Arrangements for employment and a place to stay at a Boarding house in Brooklyn have already been made courtesy of the local Catholic priest in Brooklyn (Father Flood) so Eilis finds herself in a new life albeit suffering terribly from homesickness. A budding relationship with local boy and plumber, Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen) and part-time college studies cements her acceptance of the new place and culture. However the old life in Ireland is not far away and the sudden death of Rose forces her to return to Ireland to comfort her grieving mother.
This is a competent, well-paced and executed film demonstrating that the art of storytelling does not require reliance on high-end CGI effects and extraordinary $100m+ budgets in order to delivery a quality piece of entertainment. Shot on location in both Enniscorthy, Ireland and New York City with additional locations in Dublin and Montreal in Canada, the film effectively conveys the context and atmosphere of the era, the two different societies which Eilis must negotiate and the juxtaposition of the old world with a new one. The screenplay was written by Nick Hornby, directed by John Crowley and the supporting cast includes veterans such as Julie Walters (as Madge Kehoe, the Boarding House landlady) and Jim Broadbent (as the Catholic priest, Father Flood).
Eilis' older sister, Rose Lacey (Fiona Glascott) wants a better future for her younger sister and arranges for Eilis to migrate to the United States following a well worn sea journey travelled by many Irish to America. Arrangements for employment and a place to stay at a Boarding house in Brooklyn have already been made courtesy of the local Catholic priest in Brooklyn (Father Flood) so Eilis finds herself in a new life albeit suffering terribly from homesickness. A budding relationship with local boy and plumber, Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen) and part-time college studies cements her acceptance of the new place and culture. However the old life in Ireland is not far away and the sudden death of Rose forces her to return to Ireland to comfort her grieving mother.
This is a competent, well-paced and executed film demonstrating that the art of storytelling does not require reliance on high-end CGI effects and extraordinary $100m+ budgets in order to delivery a quality piece of entertainment. Shot on location in both Enniscorthy, Ireland and New York City with additional locations in Dublin and Montreal in Canada, the film effectively conveys the context and atmosphere of the era, the two different societies which Eilis must negotiate and the juxtaposition of the old world with a new one. The screenplay was written by Nick Hornby, directed by John Crowley and the supporting cast includes veterans such as Julie Walters (as Madge Kehoe, the Boarding House landlady) and Jim Broadbent (as the Catholic priest, Father Flood).
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