Featured image courtesy of the Savannah Film Festival website
Written by Cherrelle M. Rand
Films about immigrants traveling to the U.S. in search of a better life (“The Immigrant,” “An American Rhapsody”) are a dime a dozen. In “Brooklyn” — screened at the Trustees Theater for this year’s Savannah Film Festival — the director John Crowley attempts to tell the story once more in a different way. But this sentimental tale filled with historical revisionism starts off full of promises but slowly loses its strength.
The story is set in the 1950s where a young naive Irish girl, Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) leaves the comforts of Ireland after she’s promised a better life in America. She arrives in bustling Brooklyn where she’s placed in a house with girls who are far more charming and funny than she is. Settling in is not easy for the doe-eyed girl, and the letters that Eilis receives from sister Rose (Fiona Glascott) and her mother (Jane Brennan) do little to alleviate homesickness that begins shackle her. She cries alone in her room at night and her depressed appearance is unwelcoming to the customers that come into the store where she works and affects her performance on the job. It’s not until she meets the sweet, charismatic Tony (Emory Cohen) that she slowly begins to come out of her shell.
If you’re looking for a historically accurate film “Brooklyn” is not it. While the film briefly mentions some conflict and reveals some prejudice between Italian and Irish people of New York City, through Tony’s comedic younger brother Frankie (James DiGiacomo) the movie erases any racial tension during that time. There are non-white faces in the background, but the main character ignores them as if they’re not there. It feels strange for a character who has lived in an all white town all her life to move to a city known for its cultural and racial diversity and not comment on it. You do have to give Crowley credit, at least they’re actually there.
What really sets this revisionist film apart from its predecessors is the cinematography: it’s bright, intensely colorful, and there’s emphasis placed scenery. The conflict is lightweight, after Eilis’s sister passes away unexpectedly she is forced to go back to Ireland. Once she’s home, everyone in town ignores Eilis’s declarations of returning to Brooklyn. Instead they convince her to take her sister’s old job and a love interest — Jim Farrell played by Domhnall Gleeson — is thrust at her. It becomes frustrating as you watch her fail to stick up for herself, and the confidence she gained in Brooklyn dissipates.
While it was refreshing to see female characters getting along, helping each other and not vying for the attention of men the film suffers from it’s lack of character development. I desperately wanted Eilis to find her voice — which she does at the end but it falls short. There’s something off-putting about the fact that she needed a boyfriend to help her come out of her funk. It’s not unrealistic but it is a bit troubling. Ronan is undoubtedly a talented actresses having received an Oscar nomination at 13, but her performance comes off uninviting; and next to Cohen she seems stiff.
“Brooklyn” is a cutesy version on a topic usually taken with a serious tone, and while the story is emotionally available to viewers it can come off as contrived.
