There are so many facets of Brooklyn that distinguishes it from most of the formulaic films being released today that it's hard to find a place to start. Perhaps most striking of which is that there are practically no bad guys in the picture. Even when the prospect of one seems to be introduced (Jessica Paré as the department store boss come to mind), they are quickly redeemed by their inherently compassionate humanity. The absence of external agents of misery permits Crowley to focus on the hardships that take place within Ellis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) rather than without, her internal conflicts in the face of an unknown land, new love and familial estrangement setting the stage for a seemingly simple tale that explores the complex idiosyncrasies of the heart.
While ultimately a love story (to paraphrase James Ellroy, "All drama is boy meets girl."), Brooklyn is also an exploration of the mid-20th century immigration experience as seen through the innocent eyes of a young Irish lass sent away across the Atlantic by a sister who wants a better life for her. Leaving home against her will, Ellis' progressive adaption to her new homeland is increasingly positive, a gradual change that, in a clever use of mise-en-scène, is visually attributed to her jacket color. Upon her arrival, she is always wearing a green jacket, making her stand out from the crowds in the street and emphasizing her sense of alienation, the color literally suggestive of her home country and the fact that she's still 'green' when it comes to becoming an American. Once her home sickness has passed, her jacket turns red when her eyes are opened to the true Irish condition in America and she becomes fired up in her will to succeed. This fire leads to her meeting Tony Fiorrello (Emory Cohen), an Italian boy who attends Irish dances because he like Irish girls and who falls head over heels for her. When their relationship is cemented, Ellis switches to yellow blouses and cardigans, which she mainly wears throughout the rest of the film. Even when a tragedy brings her back to Ireland and threatens to tear her and Tony apart, she keeps wearing yellow in a possible illustration of her continued subconscious loyalty to her Brooklyn beau.
When Ellis returns to Ireland, the concept of home is tested as everything and everyone around her seems to be begging for her to stay, going so far as setting her up with a handsome Irish gentleman in an attempt to get her to settle back down on the Emerald Isle. While she keeps mentioning that she's heading back to America, her actions don't particularly reflect any real hurry. Eventually, she comes to discover the undeniable truth of the age-old proverb proclaiming home to be where the heart is.
I sporadically kept thinking of Betty Smith's book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as they both deal with the blossoming of young women in Brooklyn (the fact that Ellis is admittedly older makes one possibly see her as Francie Nolan all grown-up). More than that, both texts treat their titular borough as a character in itself, an entity that seems to have more influence in shaping their protagonists' emerging womanhood than those she meets in flesh and blood.
Speaking of characters, a venerable nod must be given to Julie Walters (Mama Mia, the Harry Potter series) who is just unrecognizable and brilliant as the head of Ellis' boarding house, Mrs. Keogh. She steals every scene she appears in, rendering the dinner scenes some of the film's most memorable sequences, if only for bringing lightening humor to a film that is definitely a mixed bag of heavy emotions.
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