In the 1 9 5 0s, the young Eilis leaves her mother, sister Rose and her Irish homeland behind to emigrate to America. The journey across the Ocean in a ship is bothersome, yet she arrives and settles in Brooklyn, living in a boardinghouse with other Irish girls. An Irish priest helps her to study accounting at a night class, while she finds a job as a clerk in a store. During one dance night, Eilis meets Italian Tony and the two become a couple. Upon hearing the news that her sister Rose died from a disease she was hidding, Eilis decides to visit Ireland again. Tony is affraid she will not return, so Eilis accepts to sleep with him and marry him. Back in Ireland, Eilis takes Rose’s part-time job as a bookkeeper and feels comfortable back in her homeland, whereas a certain Jim even tries to persuade her to stay. However, after a nasty remark by Mrs Kelly, Eilis realizes how spiteful the city is and thus returns back to Tony in Brooklyn.
Immigration drama "Brooklyn" is one of those movies that are just sufficient enough to be good, yet too safe to truly gain respect. Its only truly excellent ingredient is the great main actress Saoirse Ronan, but the entire film just lags behind her. While its portrait of Irish immigrants is honest, gentle and emotional, it is too banal at times, and some chunks in the story seem like a soap opera. There is one wonderful little moment that describes the heroine Eilis and her homesickness, her feeling of being stuck between two worlds, when she meets Tony and finally feels like she is not an outsider, but like someone who actually belongs in America, so she writes a letter to her mom and sister: "Tony helped me feel that I have a life here. My body was here, but my life was back in Ireland, with you. Now it’s halfway across the sea." Unfortunately, the rest of the movie’s dialogues are disappointingly bland, schematic and standard, often too dry in just describing the obvious emotions of the characters or lacking inspiration. An amusing little early scene involving a long journey on a ship, where a toilet is locked so Eilis has to improvize and urinate in a bucket, announced that the story would have more life and color, yet everything quickly turned to flat routine. Due to its interesting concept and high production values, the movie works and is overall well done, but it is a shame that it did not have the courage to be more than just correct, and nothing more.
Grade:++
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