Brooklyn
2015 · Directed by John Crowley
Original language: English
- drama
- history
- romance
The story
In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
What it’s like
Warm, muted, and quietly yearning: soft window light falls across wooden kitchen tables in Co. Wexford, then gives way to the grey-brown palette of a 1950s Brooklyn, with its red-brick rowhouses, dark winter coats and the glow of shop windows at dusk. The camera mostly holds still, letting faces, doorways and small domestic gestures fill the frame, and cuts to the sea or a crowded ballroom arrive like breaths of fresh air. Sound is gentle: a warm orchestral score that swells softly at emotional turns, and otherwise the clink of cups, boarding-house chatter and the bustle of the ship's deck. The mood is wistful, homesick and hopeful at once, the emotional register of a slow, careful transformation as a shy young woman learns to hold her own among new friends and tangled loyalties. The pace is unhurried, suited to a rainy Sunday, a cup of tea, or a quiet evening when you want something tender. Intensity is very low: no violence, no gore, mild sensuality and one brief moment of tension, with the emotional stakes resting on kindness and difficult choices. It is for viewers who enjoy period romance, immigrant stories and the gentle ache of a life caught between two places.
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