Brooklyn follows the story of Irish immigrant, Eilis, as she finds her way in the strange world of New York in the 1950s. Studying Brooklyn is part of the year 10 English curriculum at my school. I saw the movie when my sister had to watch it last year. I have just rewatched it again in my English class. So what makes the movie so good that it is incorporated into the curriculum every year?

Well for starters, the movie is incredibly skilled at showing the perspective of immigrants. The whole movie takes a zoomed-in approach on how the main character experiences life. The audience gets to see her clear homesickness and how this changes throughout the movie. The director made clever decisions on how to approach this issue and pulled it off to perfection. There is a meticulous juxtaposition between Eilis at the start of the movie compared to her at the end. Unlike some other movies, it is evident that endless hours were put into the pre-production stage of Brooklyn.

Saoirse Ronan who played the main character demonstrated obvious emotion on her face and created very moving moments. Although it would have been nice to have seen some more feeling in other characters, Ronan's raw emotion contrasted well with anyone else. The other characters had one singular drive and the rest of their passion was hidden behind a layer of make-up. This allowed the audience to focus solely on Eilis.

Everything that Brooklyn did amply, it did to perfection. The representation of immigrants in America: perfect. Eilis' character development: perfect. The director's decisions: perfect. Saoirse Ronan's acting: perfect. It's no wonder that school's continually analyse this film.

But why then did I only give this film an 8 out of 10? So far, I've only praised this movie and other movies have received much higher ratings. Well, the elements that didn't reach the standard of the other excellent elements of the movie, were not, well, good.

Although being incredibly well thought out, there was nothing exciting about Brooklyn. The movie didn't have much to keep the audience invested. This was partly because only one character mattered in the movie. No one else's story was explored so their stakes didn't impact the movie or the audience. Only one person was keeping you in the film. There also wasn't any dramatic action but that was to be expected.

It may have been partly since Saoirse Ronan outshined him, but the acting of Ronan's co-star Emory Cohen was not up to my expectation. His character was cute and was written adequately but his delivery of lines often felt forced. There were times where it seemed that Saoirse Ronan was having a conversation with herself.

The editing of Brooklyn was also not award-winning. The editing wasn't bad, but there wasn't anything spectacular about it. This may have partly contributed to the movie's slightly boring nature. The editing wasn't outstanding, but it did the job.

But these three not-so-good movie elements were my only criticisms of the movie. Like I said earlier, Brooklyn was otherwise perfect.

Brooklyn is an exceptional movie from director John Crowley. Although the movie was not thrilling and some actors did not match the standard of others, the other positive aspects outweighed the negative. Saoirse Ronan is deserving of her Oscar nomination, the movie made non-immigrants see other's perspectives and, as I have said multiple times, John Crowley's direction resulted in a fascinating and remarkable film.

Director: John Crowley

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson

Year released: 2015

Times previously watched: 1

Re-view rating: 8/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 08/08/2021