Brooklyn (****1/2)

BROOKLYN is a better film than I was led to believe by the trailer, proving yet again that you should never judge a book by its cover. What I thought would be a standard romantic drama involving various social and economic issues instead turned out to be a truthful story of immigration and hope.

Saoirse Ronan (SIR-shuh) plays our heroine, Eilis, a young girl who travels the Atlantic with the reference of a priest and a new job opportunity. In her mind, there are no more opportunities for her aside from living under the shadow of her mother or with financial aid from her sister. In Brooklyn, she is set up as a shop clerk. She takes night classes. She even meets a boy, a gentle yet passionate Italian-American named Tony (a believable and likeable Emory Cohen). Let's not hold back. As we know from the trailer, she even falls in love.

I am not well-versed in Ronan's films following her Oscar-nominated debut in Atonement. In that film, she played a clever young girl who's dishonesty ruins the lives of those around her. Here, she is an optimistic woman who curiously lives a life that stumbles into deceit. Again, we have seen the trailer: she makes a return to Ireland and is introduced to another suitor. Who will she pick, and where does her home lie??

Back to Ronan. She is in every scene of this movie, and golly does she deliver one of the year's better performances. From heartbreak to young love, every moment is absolutely brilliant, and even more amazing considering she is an actress all of 21 years old. Look at her first scene in the movie, and look at her last. Even here, she matures before our eyes and transforms into a woman with real emotional weight and incredible depth.

The story overall does occasionally fall into bouts of the cliche, but considering the source material and the incredible direction and writing (Nick Hornby with a beautiful adaptation), it's easy enough to look past it and see a movie of pure entertainment and joy. The film could be seen as a topical piece considering the state of immigration in our country today. I think it's more a portrait of a time we my never see again. Where hope was tangible and opportunities were readily available to those who worked for it. In a way, it's a depiction of the American Dream; the reason so many come to our country to begin with. After the film ended, I almost wished I could keep dreaming...