Review of Brooklyn (2015) by Alex H — 21 Jan 2016

Quaint and formal like your best shoes for Church - Brooklyn is a nicely formed and well rounded coming of age film. This well paced and pleasant best picture nominee is a great showcase of Saoirse Ronan's talent who is marvellous in her central performance and who fully deserves her academy nomination.

However, Brooklyn never fears to give its supporting characters the limelight in particular Julie Walters who as always steals every scene she is in. I enjoyed the parallels and symmetry in the storytelling as the narrative progressed, however, for me Brooklyn doesn't do anything considerably daring or eye catching that'd warrant a second viewing.

To me the film feels very polite and nice in ways that goes to mimic our lead character - and that's not as to say the film is boring - but the film did lack a sense of real conflict. Having said that, Ronan's character IS a divided soul showcasing deep and resounding inner conflict; I would have just liked a little more conflict within her external world.

Perfectly enjoyable fare if a bit forgettable.