Brooklyn (2015)

I hadn't expected to see this, especially in a theater. The advertising just hadn't grabbed me, if I even knew of it. But when my folks invited me for a Thanksgiving viewing, I thought, "Well, why not? It's popular enough."

In the early '50s, young woman Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) moves from a small Irish town to the titular borough for a prearranged job. It takes her some time to fit in, but a big boost comes when lovable Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen) courts her and then her boarding housemates help her react appropriately. It looks as though that would be the end of her homesickness, but then some news from Ireland arrives in the second half....

I appreciate seeing Eilis, whose beauty gets obscured by plain fashion sense, grow in self-confidence gradually. Unfortunately, some of her growth is a little too gradual. In particular, when she returns to her homeland, she doesn't tell anyone about Tony -- even when they blatantly encourage her to not only stick around but hook up with gentleman Jim (Domhnall Gleeson). I could understand her temptation under slightly different conditions, but if Tony had learned how close she came to dropping him like a sack of cement at that point in their relationship, there would not be a happy ending.

As you see, there's not a lot to the story. I'd apologize for essentially spoiling it, but it's predictable in broad strokes. If not for one erotic scene, you could easily show it to kids and they'd have no trouble following along. (You might anyway; it's PG-13.) My dad found the story very touching, but I kept feeling like it was nothing new.

That said, I did find it enjoyable on the whole. There aren't many stories where multiple initially bitchy characters become friendly once the protagonist shows the right charm (though at least one remains importantly wretched). There certainly aren't many that have this heavy a focus on women without making the male portion of the audience feel out of place; it passes the Bechdel test handily and still involves plenty of concerns about men. And it has a fair number of funny lines, especially care of Julie Walters as the boarding house owner.

I don't expect Brooklyn to stay up in the 8s on IMDb long, but I gave it an 8 myself. What it lacks in Best Picture material, it seems to make up for in quaintness.