It’s practically a revelation to read the best critics in the business praising John Crowley’s Brooklyn, a movie (among a handful this year) that reminds us that not only do female characters exist but they are worthy of quirks and multiple dimensions in their — dare we say it — personalities! Of Brooklyn, the LA Times’ Kenneth Turan writes:
No special effect is more difficult than mastery of the complex contours of the human heart. No amount of money spent or armies of CGI minions employed can ensure that it is done right: Emotion, intelligence and skill in equal measure are what’s essential. Qualities that the masterfully done “Brooklyn” have in abundance.
Impeccably directed by John Crowley, feelingly adapted by Nick Hornby from Colm Tóibín’s fine novel and blessed with heart-stopping work from star Saoirse Ronan and the rest of the cast, “Brooklyn” is about love and heartache, loneliness and intimacy, what home means and how we achieve it.
And closes it this way:
Perhaps the most impressive thing about “Brooklyn” is that it does so much, touches on so many emotions, that it resists pigeonholing. It’s possible, for instance, to make the film sound simply like a romance, the story of a young woman waiting for Mr. Right, but it does not play that way at all.
Rather, “Brooklyn” is about the inevitable but never easy process of deciding who you are and what your life is going to be. As Georgina advises Eilis on the boat over, “You have to think like an American. You have to know where you’re going.” Getting to that place is Eilis’ journey, and being witness to it is both a privilege and a pleasure.
AO Scott at the New York Times names Brooklyn a “Critics Pick” and says about it:
A godsend for audiences who hunger for rich emotion presented with wit, grace and not a trace of sentimentality, “Brooklyn” illustrates the power of restraint in dealing with poignant, impassioned material.
As if all this weren’t enough, because of who Eilis is and where she comes from, “Brooklyn” also examines the immigrant experience that’s always with us as Americans, the unimaginable distances — physical and psychological — that people travel to get from there to here and what that does to their lives.
And about the brilliant Ms. Ronan:
A gifted cinematic presence since her Oscar-nominated “Atonement” debut at age 12, Ronan (who was born in the New York area and returned to Ireland with her parents when she was 3) wholly comes into her own as an adult actress with her work as Eilis, the first completely normal character, she said when the film debuted at Sundance, she’d ever played — and her first Irish role to boot.
Even in a year of exceptionally strong female performances, Ronan’s stands out because of the overwhelming empathy she creates with the subtlest means, the remarkable way she’s able to create achingly personal, intensely emotional sequences while seeming not to be doing very much at all.