Perhaps no other title at this year’s Sundance Film Festival screamed Oscar quite as loudly as Brooklyn, John Crowley’s tale of a young immigrant torn between her home world and the new life she’s trying to carve out for herself in America.
Saoirse Ronan stars in the pic, adapted from the book by Colm Toibin by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity), as an Irish immigrant trying to balance a new love and an old life while combatting the struggles of survival in 1950s New York. Emory Cohen, Domnhall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent and Julie Waters co-star.
Reviews out of Sundance were rapturous, with particular praise going toward the moving story, Ronan’s emotive lead performance and the evocative cinematography, so it would be no surprise to see Brooklyn pop up in the awards mix closer to the end of the year. From what we’ve heard, few films this year have arrived as perfectly formed. The pic doesn’t have a set release yet but it will be coming this fall.
BROOKLYN tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. Lured by the promise of America, Eilis departs Ireland and the comfort of her mother’s home for the shores of New York City. The initial shackles of homesickness quickly diminish as a fresh romance sweeps Eilis into the intoxicating charm of love. But soon, her new vivacity is disrupted by her past, and she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.