A Movie Review: Brooklyn

Brooklyn. Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) lives in a small Irish town. She is unable to find full-time work so via the Catholic Church, she is able to relocate to New York where she is employed by a department store and lives at a boarding house for women. The local priest that sponsored her move to New York signs her up for accounting courses at a local night college. She also runs into a young Italian named Tony (Emory Cohen) at an Irish dance hall event. They start dating and consider getting married. Then disaster strikes back in Ireland. Eilis' sister Rose (Fiona Glascott) dies unexpectedly. Eilis heads back home where the temptation to stay is strong. She ends up being torn between her new life in America and the familiarity of Ireland.

There are a couple things with this movie that irritate me. First, I just don't by the relationship between Eilis and Tony. I feel like a snob for saying so, but Eilis is way smarter and intelligent then Tony. I can't help but think in the long run she'd grow bored with him. Second, we know up front that she moves to America due to her inability to find work. When the decision to return to America or not must finally be made, she comes up with a totally different reason for coming to her final decision. And I really don't support the final argument she makes -- trying here not to give spoilers -- because I think it is defensive and weak.

I will say this movie does shine in places. For example, the time spent on the ship and how Eilis must learn how to navigate life on a boat provide some great tidbits of 1950s travel. I also enjoyed the scenes of Eilis back in Ireland and seeing how even though it appears she hasn't changed all that much as a person, she really had taken on the look of a big city woman.

I just can't say that this is a brilliant movie, because I found the underlying theme of the movie (a decision regarding the old vs new) flawed.