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Brooklyn

  • 04-11-2015 4:28pm
    #1
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,315 CMod ✭✭✭✭


    Thought this wasn't opening until the 6th, so was a bit surprised to find myself at it this afternoon with the Mammy. The audience was heavy on the over 70s, but that may have been because it was an afternoon show.

    I loved it. It's a simple enough story, but the performances are excellent and the clothes were fantastic. Saoirse Ronan was great and Julie Walters was Julie Walters (in a good way) but my own favourite was Brid Brennan as the nasty oul' biddy in the town.

    I might go to it again.


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,431 ✭✭✭MilesMorales1


    I absolutely adored it from start to finish. Funny, sad, dramatic, fantastic performances, looked great.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 89,019 ✭✭✭✭JP Liz V1


    Some great reviews for this especially for Ronan


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28 Silas45


    Loved this movie. I very much enjoyed the era it was set in and the clothes were just amazing.

    Sad in parts but a very enjoyable watch! Ronan was great and Julie Walters was brilliant, as always.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,216 ✭✭✭Looper007


    JP Liz V1 wrote: »
    Some great reviews for this especially for Ronan

    She's excellent in this and is the reason why the film is getting great reviews.

    Julie Walters and the other actresses in the boarding house, were the stand out scenes in the film. I loved a scene when Ronan talks to Nora-Jane Noone character in the bathroom about marriage, so heart breaking. I also loved Tony's little brother, those scenes were great. Praise should also go to Emory Cohen as Tony and Domhnall Gleeson (although he's given less screen time) as the love interests, I loved that neither guy are presented as a bad guy (in a lesser film one of them would have been).

    Brid Brennan is the closet the film gets to a bad guy
    Loved the scene when Eilis shuts her down when Ms. Kelly tries to blackmail and bully her, although I have a question would she have gone back to Tony if Kelly didn't try her bully antics
    .

    I would be nitpicking with my slight negatives, the CGI of New York and some other scenes was slightly dodgy. I felt the stuff when Eilis goes back to Ireland after
    The death of her older sister
    weren't as strong as the stuff from New York. Jim Broadbent's accent was slightly dodgy. But that would be taking away from a otherwise excellent film with a fantastic central performance from Ronan, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Oscar nod go her way.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,036 ✭✭✭Shelga


    Went to see this yesterday, I loved it. I thought it was a very simple concept and was very much about her journey and the range of emotions she experiences, rather than racing through to the end to find out where she ends up.

    I was very teary throughout though :( The part where
    she's on the phone to her mam after the sister has died and the mam says "I'm all alone now Eilis"- had me bawling. Superbly acted by both actresses in the scene- gawd I'm welling up now even recalling it :o

    In the end
    I just felt so sorry for the mother though. She is all alone, and I did think Eilis had a duty in a way to look after her, which she didn't. At the same time she can't live her life for someone else and she had a responsibility to her husband in America too.
    I liked how nothing was black and white, there were no easy or obvious solutions.

    I didn't think the girl from Cavan was as bad as Eilis made out though, she seemed like a laugh :p


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,289 ✭✭✭gucci


    We went to see this on Saturday evening, and I had to have a little chuckle to myself before the lights dimmed as I’d say we were the only couple there under 50, with the exception of the odd mother daughter combination!!

    Simply put, this is a good story - well told.

    I am your typical guy who is normally very cynical and blasé about romantic type movies, and also the way the Irish in America stories are told on the big screen but for some reason right from the start I got sucked in by this. Saoirse Ronan has such a strong presence and she really owns the screen any time she is on it. The sets and costume looked fantastic also, especially the New York scenes.

    Although I do agree the above,
    the Irish scenes on the return looked a little bit off, but maybe it was something that was slightly intentional to make America look like a world apart from Ireland for a returning emigrant.

    The emotions were being tested from the start and the
    Christmas dinner scene
    was particularly tough for me, as I have witnessed many a poor ould divil in similar scenarios in UK Irish clubs over the years.

    The story itself was relatively straight forward, and one that many rural Irish families will have a version of in their own history or in a neighbors history. It reminded me in so many ways of some of the JB Keane plays that I would have seen over the years. Plenty of comedy relief elements to keep the seriousness from delving us all into the doldrums, and a conclusion that was very fitting.
    but with its own tragic elements, especially for the mother left behind, but such is life, there are no easy answers to the big challenges!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,646 ✭✭✭✭qo2cj1dsne8y4k


    Also really enjoyed this movie, parts of it was so so sad but I loved the scenes around the dinner table


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,934 ✭✭✭✭fin12


    Just seen Brooklyn, such a lovely film, Saoirse Ronan is very good in it.
    Hope I find a love like that


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,189 ✭✭✭hawkwind23


    All good reviews and i agree with everything.

    Not much to add except maybe to throw in my view on the Cavan girl , sort of showed the depth of independence of Ronans character not to feel obligation (although my partner and i both agreed she was the best of the support characters and added some genuine laughs )
    I suspected that from that scene she would do the "right" thing later in the movie.

    Nice to see a thoughtful film in the big complexes (its cheap on a Tuesday up north) but i think it would really add to the film seeing it in an independent.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,216 ✭✭✭Looper007


    hawkwind23 wrote: »
    Not much to add except maybe to throw in my view on the Cavan girl , sort of showed the depth of independence of Ronans character not to feel obligation (although my partner and i both agreed she was the best of the support characters and added some genuine laughs )
    I suspected that from that scene she would do the "right" thing later in the movie.

    The Cavan Girl reminded me of Juno Temple. I actually thought it was her for a second :pac:. I thought all the women in the boarding house were excellent, none of them were dislikeable. I especially loved Nora-Jane Noone as Shelia, the wiser one of the bunch who was there not out of choice and you see why she's not as out going as the rest.

    It's also has had the biggest opening to a Irish made film since Michael Collins in 1996. So that's great news.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,464 ✭✭✭e_e


    This is the most pleasant and respectable film I've ever seen to feature a character
    ****ting then puking in a bucket.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,289 ✭✭✭gucci


    e_e wrote: »
    This is the most pleasant and respectable film I've ever seen to feature a character
    ****ting then puking in a bucket.

    hahaha i had totally forgotten about that bit!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,619 ✭✭✭✭errlloyd


    Expected something sappy and nostalgic, got something brilliant from start to finish. Excellent movie.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,018 CMod ✭✭✭✭johnny_ultimate


    Brooklyn is the cinematic equivalent of Calpol* - sweet and moderately soothing while it lasts, but lacking in lasting medicinal value.

    I make that forced analogy as neither a positive nor negative observation. Brooklyn is a proudly three star film if ever there was one. It's a film that does almost nothing remarkably, but almost nothing poorly either. It does have one exceptional asset, and that's Saoirse Ronan. It's her film through and through, and while the supporting performances are rarely less than likable, she's the one who keeps us invested in the character and what's going on around her. The only major negative I would point out is the aggressively mawkish soundtrack, which does its best to over-sentimentalise everything even when the rest of the film manages to mostly resist it (it's a melodrama through and through, of course, but earnestly so).

    Almost every other praise and criticism I could level at it would be far more reserved or conditional. It often capably captures the emotions of the emigrant experience, yet also feels neutered and overly neat. It's simplistic, but endearingly so. It's unquestionably charming, but utterly workmanlike. It's visually insipid but clear and concise at the same time. It's exactly what it sets out to be, rarely more, rarely less. It's the sort of film that didn't set the heart or mind a racing, but neither is it the sort of production I could honestly direct much in the way of bad vibes towards.

    *The purple stuff, not that six plus nonsense.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,958 Mod ✭✭✭✭TICKLE_ME_ELMO


    Saw it this afternoon. I had read the book so I knew what I was getting, wasn't expecting explosions or anything of the sort.

    I think the film did a better job of tying the story up. The book, if I remember it rightly, leaves it a little more ambiguous but they film makes it clear
    she's going back to be with Tony
    .

    I didn't like Jim Farrell in the book and I didn't really like him in the film either.
    He's a nice enough sort but it all felt very much like here's a nice man, he's taken a shine to you, the whole town approves, on you go, good girl. I can see why it would have been tempting, staying at home but I was always rooting for Brooklyn and Tony.

    Anyway... great performance from Ronan, she's always been brilliant but it's nice to see her getting to play a proper grown up part, not that she was ever really a "child star" in that horrible Disney kind of way.

    It's great to see some really high quality female led dramatic films getting wide releases and doing well too. I've seen a few this year and there were trailers for Carol and Joy before Brooklyn this afternoon so we may have a few more this year too.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,545 ✭✭✭tunguska


    Oh dear this was pretty awful. The acting (apart from saoirse ronan and domhnall gleeson)was very cartoonish, like way too pantomime and overcooked. The jokes were contrived and telegraphed from a mile away. There was no real emotional connection there for me at all. I saw Steve jobs last week and that was a far deeper and meaningful film than Brooklyn.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,958 Mod ✭✭✭✭TICKLE_ME_ELMO


    tunguska wrote: »
    Oh dear this was pretty awful. The acting (apart from saoirse ronan and domhnall gleeson)was very cartoonish, like way too pantomime and overcooked. The jokes were contrived and telegraphed from a mile away. There was no real emotional connection there for me at all. I saw Steve jobs last week and that was a far deeper and meaningful film than Brooklyn.

    They can't have been that well telegraphed, I seem to have missed them completely.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 507 ✭✭✭runnerholic


    tunguska wrote: »
    Oh dear this was pretty awful. The acting (apart from saoirse ronan and domhnall gleeson)was very cartoonish, like way too pantomime and overcooked. The jokes were contrived and telegraphed from a mile away. There was no real emotional connection there for me at all. I saw Steve jobs last week and that was a far deeper and meaningful film than Brooklyn.

    No way! I definitely felt an emotional kick from Brooklyn. Steve Jobs was crap despite good acting from Fassbender.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 7,102 ✭✭✭Stinicker


    I went to see this last night, it was so fake and manufactured, Ireland was portrayed as some sort of great country in the 1950's, with their cars, rich houses and Enniscorthy with its Rugby and Golf clubs. It was like there was no poverty to be seen, the truth was that this film was completely out of sync with Ireland in the 1950's. My friend said it might have been Dublin 4 but it certainly wasn't rural Ireland.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,431 ✭✭✭MilesMorales1


    Stinicker wrote: »
    I went to see this last night, it was so fake and manufactured, Ireland was portrayed as some sort of great country in the 1950's, with their cars, rich houses and Enniscorthy with its Rugby and Golf clubs. It was like there was no poverty to be seen, the truth was that this film was completely out of sync with Ireland in the 1950's. My friend said it might have been Dublin 4 but it certainly wasn't rural Ireland.

    Well its not trying to be a 100% realistic portrayal of Ireland, I think its a great portrayal of small town Ireland, then and now.


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  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,958 Mod ✭✭✭✭TICKLE_ME_ELMO


    Stinicker wrote: »
    I went to see this last night, it was so fake and manufactured, Ireland was portrayed as some sort of great country in the 1950's, with their cars, rich houses and Enniscorthy with its Rugby and Golf clubs. It was like there was no poverty to be seen, the truth was that this film was completely out of sync with Ireland in the 1950's. My friend said it might have been Dublin 4 but it certainly wasn't rural Ireland.

    Eh... she left, along with all the other Irish people, because there was no prospects for her in Ireland. What part of that did you read as Ireland being a great country?


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 7,102 ✭✭✭Stinicker


    It didn't even have rain in the scenes, everywhere was neat and clean, people drove cars, this film was the exact opposite of what small town life was like except for the gossiping and sticking their noses in. They could have at least thrown in a bit of misery porn like Angeles Ashes for realism.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,958 Mod ✭✭✭✭TICKLE_ME_ELMO


    Stinicker wrote: »
    It didn't even have rain in the scenes, everywhere was neat and clean, people drove cars, this film was the exact opposite of what small town life was like except for the gossiping and sticking their noses in. They could have at least thrown in a bit of misery porn like Angeles Ashes for realism.

    get.gif?w=604


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,934 ✭✭✭✭fin12


    Stinicker wrote: »
    It didn't even have rain in the scenes, everywhere was neat and clean, people drove cars, this film was the exact opposite of what small town life was like except for the gossiping and sticking their noses in. They could have at least thrown in a bit of misery porn like Angeles Ashes for realism.

    It was raining in the scene when they were going to the dance. I'm just Jealous of the lovely husband she got.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,641 ✭✭✭✭Elmo


    Broklyn is sweet and simple. That's not a negative criticism. Really enjoyable film, not at all heavy. Not big and brash. Something that is often missing from cinema and drama, "now-a-days". And it avoided the drudgery of other period Irish dramas.

    Julie Walters is the best part of the film.

    Is it Oscar worthy? or award worthy? No not against either Room or Beasts of No Nation.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,934 ✭✭✭✭fin12


    I felt really sorry for the sister, It was like she gave up her own life for Saoirse Ronan's character to have one, she arranged everything in New York for her. I think when Saoirse Ronan was starting to enjoy life in America and had found her husband, I think her sister started to struggle. That scene where her sister was eating dinner with the mother and she was trying not to cry, I found that scene really upsetting. I feel like the sister had become depressed, even though the sister had a job it felt like she had no life there.
    .


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 102 ✭✭El Diablo Blanco


    fin12 wrote: »
    I felt really sorry for the sister, It was like she gave up her own life for Saoirse Ronan's character to have one, she arranged everything in New York for her. I think when Saoirse Ronan was starting to enjoy life in America and had found her husband, I think her sister started to struggle. That scene where her sister was eating dinner with the mother and she was trying not to cry, I found that scene really upsetting. I feel like the sister had become depressed, even though the sister had a job it felt like she had no life there.
    .

    I had a slightly different interpretation.
    Father Flood hypothesised to Eilis that Rose had probably been sick for a while, but didn't tell anyone. I imagine she tried to set Eilis up in America so she wouldn't be stuck looking after the mother once Rose died. Eilis's news of her job, classes and boyfriend probably came as bittersweet - she was happy her sister was getting on so well, but knew her days were numbered and would likely never see her again
    . Just my own take on it.

    Great film, at any rate. Sad without being mawkish or overwrought, and suitably subtle and well-measured. Wonderful performances across the board. Hopefully Ronan gets an Oscar nod for this - well deserved.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 728 ✭✭✭CassieManson


    I had a slightly different interpretation.
    Father Flood hypothesised to Eilis that Rose had probably been sick for a while, but didn't tell anyone. I imagine she tried to set Eilis up in America so she wouldn't be stuck looking after the mother once Rose died. Eilis's news of her job, classes and boyfriend probably came as bittersweet - she was happy her sister was getting on so well, but knew her days were numbered and would likely never see her again
    . Just my own take on it.

    Great film, at any rate. Sad without being mawkish or overwrought, and suitably subtle and well-measured. Wonderful performances across the board. Hopefully Ronan gets an Oscar nod for this - well deserved.

    I enjoyed the film, but Saoirse Ronan's Irish accent sounded fake!
    Also was unclear at the end if she would have gone back if the woman in the shop had not found out about her marriage. Did she feel that she had to go back to Brooklyn at that point, or did she realise that she acually wanted to go back?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,653 ✭✭✭✭amdublin


    I enjoyed the film, but Saoirse Ronan's Irish accent sounded fake!


    Jaysis I thought Saoirse's Irish accent was 20 times more authentic than that weird accent she has irl / interviews.


    I loved it. Went two weeks ago, and then again last week. Even better second time around - really let myself go and had a good aul bawl watching it.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,088 ✭✭✭OU812


    Just watched this tonight. One of my top films of the year. Will become one of the "Classic" Irish films. Hope it does well come awards season, excellent performances all round.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,344 ✭✭✭Diamond Doll


    I went to this a couple of weeks ago with my sister, and then went again just the other night with my dad because I knew he'd like it (especially because he's from Wexford!)

    You know I'd very rarely be able to sit through the same film twice in such a short period, but I think I actually enjoyed it even more second time around! Saoirse Ronan is just fantastic, and so gorgeous in such an understated way, and I loved the clothes etc!

    I think there are few actresses who could get the balance right the way she did - that you still liked her, and had sympathy for her, despite all that happened.

    Agreed with what someone said above, that the actresses in the boarding house really made the movie.

    I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the book!


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,958 Mod ✭✭✭✭TICKLE_ME_ELMO


    It's taken 18.3 million in the US so far, which is really amazing. I know there's lots of talk about awards and that's great too but at the end of the day money talks.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,434 ✭✭✭✭LuckyLloyd


    Finally saw this yesterday and really liked it. I thought Ronan's performance lived up to the hype and the core romance between her and Emory Cohen was very well played - believably cute. Crowley and Hornby had great source material to work with and they let it do most of the work - a very sound decision. Ultimately I welled up in parts and laughed at others all the time rooting for a happy ending. Isn't a simple satisfying cinema experience like that nice every once in a while?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 677 ✭✭✭vidor


    For a film that was overly saccharine and chock-a-block with clichés, it's surprising the amount of praise this is receiving. It's stiff in its delivery, everything is far too clean and obvious (hello extras!), not forgetting the truly horrible CGI (why bother if it's going to end up looking that bad?). Such bland and insipid filmmaking.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,653 ✭✭✭✭amdublin


    Which part had CGI?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 256 ✭✭leonards


    amdublin wrote: »
    Which part had CGI?

    The New York scenes were filmed in Montreal.... So any time you saw a nyc landmark it was cgi...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,653 ✭✭✭✭amdublin


    leonards wrote: »
    The New York scenes were filmed in Montreal.... So any time you saw a nyc landmark it was cgi...


    Cheers. It didn't stand out for me so I thought it was fine on that basis...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,434 ✭✭✭✭LuckyLloyd


    Didn't notice any CGI myself!! Seems well executed on that basis.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,693 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    They did shoot some exteriors in New York. I'm sure they used some CGI as well but it's a low budget film. Shooting in New York ain't cheap. And making it look like the 1950s certainly isn't. Even if they had shot in Brooklyn converted to look like the '50s they'd have had to use a certain amount of CGI on the skyline. It's a period movie.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 23,958 Mod ✭✭✭✭TICKLE_ME_ELMO


    They did shoot some exteriors in New York. I'm sure they used some CGI as well but it's a low budget film. Shooting in New York ain't cheap. And making it look like the 1950s certainly isn't. Even if they had shot in Brooklyn converted to look like the '50s they'd have had to use a certain amount of CGI on the skyline. It's a period movie.

    They shot a little bit in NY for the exterior of some the houses. I think it was one scene, maybe two. There weren't many scenes where they showed wider shots of NY with the CGI. Two or three at most, which weren't that obvious.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,641 ✭✭✭✭Elmo


    Even if filmed in NYC CGI would have to be used, considering it took place in the 1950. Also the colour used in NYC is different to that in Ireland. This to me is an aesthetic.



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