Brooklyn

This review may contain spoilers!

While this has a great cast and an interesting story it's ultimately a bit of a boring film. I would give Brooklyn a 6.5/10.

This film has displays of exquisite writing despite it's pacing issues, the story of Eilis' feeling of displacement after moving from Ireland is very gripping and I have to commend this film for one of the most natural romance storylines that I've seen in a while. The score for this film is exceptional, I especially liked that the soundtrack for this film had songs from the 1950s era that the film is based in.

Saoirse Ronan, who played Eilis, is a great protagonist in this film; I really enjoyed seeing her develop her timid and awkward role into someone who was more outspoken and confident in herself. Brid Brennan, who played Miss Kelly, was a great character to start the film off upon and an even better antagonist to close the film on; her unconstrained contempt for Eilis and most others made her a particularly nasty role. Jim Broadbent, who played Father Flood, was a really nice kindly role in this film; I liked the chemistry and supportive nature that he displayed in scenes with Ronan. Fiona Glascott, who played Rose, gave a very genuine performance; I was really shocked when her role died and it really brought the film up in my mind. Eileen O'Higgins, who played Nancy, had a great deal of energy in the scenes that she was in; O'Higgins really made the start of the film interesting when it was at it's blandest. Eva Birthistle, who played Georgina, was a very spirited performance; she entered the film and became a sort of icon to Ronan's role in a very powerful way. Jessica Pare, who played Miss Fortini, was quite an intimidating presence at first in this film; however it was nice to see her support and bond more with Ronan as the film progressed. James DiGiacomo, who played Frankie Fiorello, gave one of the best performances I've seen by a child actor in a while; his comedic berating of Ronan and Italian witticisms immediately made him a scene stealer.

However the best performance came from Julie Walters, who played Mrs Keogh. Walters delivered a knockout comedic role in this film, gossiping and keeping the conversation of her lodgers in check. I loved seeing her take Ronan under her wing and support her while she was in Brooklyn. Ultimately Walters was a firecracker onscreen and brought out some of the best line delivery of the film.

This film was very slow, the beginning was kind of dreary and tame while the last act of the film was boring and almost undermined the Brooklyn storyline as well. The cinematography was exceptionally average, the choice of shots were constantly getting simpler and simpler to the extent that it looked like a student film on a large budget. The editing was quite similar to the cinematography, I felt the film suffered for the simple cuts and fade transitions.

Jane Brennan, who played Mary Lacey, never truly felt like an important role in this film even though she should have; it was all made worse by the fact that Brennan had absolutely no chemistry at all with Ronan. Emily Bett Rickards, Eve Macklin, Nora-Jane Noone and Mary O'Driscoll, who played Patty, Diana, Sheila and Miss McAdam respectively, was a weak ensemble that didn't really rise to the level of Walter's performance; they were very generic and didn't show much character beyond being a group of gossip girls. Jenn Murray, who played Dolores, didn't have very much screen presence in the film; Murray's scenes were awkward and very forgettable. Emory Cohen, who played Tony, gave a performance that was a bit too over the top; I felt like Cohen was a bit artificial and didn't really engage with the script. Ellen David, Christian de la Cortina, Paulino Nunes and Michael Zegen, who played Mrs Fiorello, Laurenzio, Mr Fiorello and Maurizio respectively, felt like a backdrop to Cohen's character in this film; they never really stood out or made their mark upon the film. Domhnall Gleeson, who played Jim Farrell, has been very hit and miss with his roles of late; in this film Gleeson just doesn't seem to want to be here and he doesn't show much engagement with his role or Ronan's at all. Karen Ardiff and Gary Lydon, who played Mrs and Mr Farrell, only helped to strain the already absent chemistry between Ronan and Gleeson; the scene between the four of them is one of the worst of the film.