Release Date: November 4, 2015
Director: John Crowley
Writers: Nick Hornby (screenplay), Colm Toibin (novel)
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnhall Gleeson
Production Company: Wildgaze Films, Parallel Film Productions
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for a scene of sexuality and brief strong language
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This an amazing movie. Saoirse Ronan has come up in Young Hollywood. This was the role for her. She brings strength of Eilis. You connect with her. You love Eilis, you hate her, then you love her again. You get to watch Eilis grow in this film. It is the most interesting change she undergoes.
I enjoyed the cinematography of the film, but more because it is filmed in Ireland (a country I am bound to visit) and in the setting of 1950s New York. The culture between the two countries are evident. In Ireland, you are basically rushed to marry and start a family. In Brooklyn, you are able to get an education and work in a field that you desire. Well, in that time, it seemed to be about bookkeeping.
Eilis’ struggle is rather prominent in the first fifteen minutes. Good Catholic girl that listens to her mother, until she is able to go make a better life for herself across the Atlantic. As much as we want to please our parents, our life is our own to live. Our goal as children and adults is to make our parents happy. However, there are some parents who will disconnect themselves from you (or vice versa). In some cultures, the older sibling takes care of the parents. In others, it is different.
I think, with Eilis meeting Tony and other factors, her perspective changed. I don’t feel like the struggle is love of another, but the love of your mother and of yourself. Maybe I am the only that sees it that way.
I think I have divulged enough. I adore Ronan in this film and as other reviewers indicate, Emory Cohen is a young man to watch for. His character, Tony Farrello, is a persistent young man, with a bright future, or at least that is what is planted. He is also a strong man, to let fate decide what happens between him and Eilis.
There are not many films that is like this one. I loved it. I, however, enjoy films like this.
