One swallow does not a summer make. Just because “Boyhood” was nominated for Best Picture and fared very well at last year’s Oscars doesn’t mean films that played at Sundance are going to be part of the awards season narrative each year. However, Fox Searchlight’s “Brooklyn,” a gorgeous movie about love and the idea that you can’t go home again, is doing its best to contradict this notion It’s a carefully drawn portrait of all these themes and it’s so damn good that it’s already disrupting the awards conversation (here’s our A-grade review).
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“Brooklyn” premiered at Sundance earlier this year, and was met equivalent swooning approval from critics at Telluride, TIFF and the New York Film Festival. It’s so terrific that those major festivals accepted it despite premiering back in January; not even “Boyhood” can boast that. Directed with extreme detail and care by John Crowley (“Boy-A,” the movie that launched Andrew Garfield’s career back in 2007, long before anyhow knew who he was), “Brooklyn” features incredible turns from Saoirse Ronan (a sure bet for a Best Actress nomination), Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters. Here’s the official synopsis:
BROOKLYN tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950’s Brooklyn. Lured by the promise of America, Eilis departs Ireland and the comfort of her mother’s home for the shores of New York City. The initial shackles of homesickness quickly diminish as a fresh romance sweeps Eilis into the intoxicating charm of love. But soon, her new vivacity is disrupted by her past, and Eilis must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
Fox Searchlight will release “Brooklyn” on Wednesday, November 4, 2015 in a limited platform basis and the movie will begin to slowly expand in the following weeks. Watch the new trailer below.
