Brooklyn!
Ok so again I am a little late to the party as Brooklyn has been out for a few months now, but I thought I might as well offer you my thoughts and my thoughts are that this really is a fantastic film. Its just... so beautiful, its not what you would call innovative in terms of its plot, but its still a love story that you can completely connect to and immerse yourself in.
So yeah, as you can see, I quite like this movie, but what's it actually about I don't hear you say because we aren't having an actual conversation and the we in this context is a metaphorical person in my head. Sorry, I got off track there.
Aaaaanyway, Brooklyn is about a young Irish girl called Ellis Lacy (Saoirse Ronan) who senses that her life in Ireland isn't leading anywhere and with the help of her sister and a priest moves to Brooklyn in the United States. Despite initial homesickness Ellis soon begins to love her life in the States and meets a young Italian man called Anthony (Emory Cohen). However tragically for Ellis her sister Rose (Fiona Glasscott) dies and Ellis returns home and struggles to come to terms with whether or not to stay at home with her mother and her admirer Jim (Domhnall Gleeson) or return to Anthony.
And that's that really, its the sort of love story that has been told again and again, and yet this is not at any point a detriment to the film overall. This is down almost and I mean almost entirely to the performance of Ronan who is nothing short of mesmerising in the lead role. She is ably assisted by other cast members including Julie Walters who provides some of the more comedic aspects of the film, but it is Ronan who comes out of this film as the main attraction - for me anyway.
What really surprises me about her is her age, Ronan is only 21 years old - 20 freaking 1!! What's so special about that? Well honestly you wouldn't believe that someone so young could put in such a wonderfully crafted and understated performance. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that she looks older,just that she has a presence on screen that really defies her youth. I seriously cannot praise her performance enough, she makes want to find out what happens to her character, she pushes the film forward at a pace that never stalls and she makes you believe that love really does exist (OK I know that's mushy but honestly its true). I haven't yet seen the films which contain the other actresses nominated for the best performance Oscar, but based on what she did in Brooklyn it would be thoroughly deserved if Ronan was to pick up the award.*
I must also gush about the soundtrack a little bit because its fantastic. The score is subtle and just perfect for the images that appear in front of you and there was even one song that was sung in the Irish language that made me homesick. Please bare in mind that I watched this at home in England and I have no familial attachment to Ireland whatsoever and this song made me homesick. How on earth does that happen seriously?
I just cannot offer enough praise to this film, some readers (I know you exist somewhere) might think I am being over the top, but I am not often over the top when it comes to films and Brooklyn has elicited a response that is quite uncommon for me.
Watch it please!!
*Also, if you want another award, you can marry me Saoirse, not as good as an Oscar obviously, but I promise I will be like suuuuuuper good to you.
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