Sundance Films 2015 M8: Brooklyn

Not all Sundance films are tiny scrappy foreign low-budget affairs. Hey, WHITE GOD  had a fairly substantial budget, though I'm not sure it is going to get picked up and shown in theaters in the USA.  BROOKLYN is not a low-budget film. Showing independent but real-budget films at Sundance bumps up the film's serious cred, and gets some buzz out that hopefully launches excellent films like this into more theaters and before more audiences, when it gets released. BROOKLYN is a coming-of-age film for a young woman from Ireland, who immigrates to the USA and Brooklyn in the 1950's, at that time a haven for the Irish. A boarding house and job were arranged by her priest in Ireland, letting the smart girl with no prospects in Ireland come to America to find a new life. Fighting homesickness and confusion... etc. At times bleak, at times joyful; one falls in love with the quiet, determined Eilis Lacey and sympathizes through her struggles and eventual triumph.

Saoirse Ronan plays Eilis in a restrained manner. Eilis is a quiet person, with a lot of guts and determination hidden behind her quiet persona. It was a bit odd to see her play the same kind of person as she played in STOCKHOLM, PENNSYLVANIA but in very different circumstances. Odder still, the styling / makeup / lighting in THIS film made her the spitting image of a McIlvenna sister (familiar to many in the Utah canyoneering community), which kinda drove me nuts!

GREAT FILM - will be available in wide release I'm sure. Possible Oscar material, so might not be out until fall. Another chick-flick for sure. Good date movie.