• Home
  • Movie News
  • Movie Trailers
  • Reviews
    • Cinema Reviews
    • Home Entertainment Reviews
      • Blu-ray Review
      • DVD Review
  • Competitions
  • Features
    • Interview

Movie Muser

Have your say about cinema

Brooklyn (Blu-ray Review)

29th February 2016 By Tim Isaac

brooklyn-review-slideStarring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters
Directed By: John Crowley
Running Time: 111 mins
BBFC Certificate: 12
UK Release Date: February 29th 2016

Our Score

If you want Oscar nominations, you need to put Domhnall Gleeson in your movie. He was in four films released in 2015 that got multiple nominations. Brooklyn was one of those movies (alongside Star Wars, The Revenant and Ex Machina), although he doesn’t show up until the second half.

Based on Colm Toibin’s book, Brooklyn is about young Irish woman Eilis (Saoirse Ronan), whose sister Rose and a priest have organised for her to have a new life in New York, where they believe she will have more opportunities. After a difficult crossing, Eilis starts a new job at a department store while living at a boarding house in Brooklyn, and begins training to be a bookkeeper.

At first she is terribly homesick, but things look up after she meets and falls in love with local boy Tony (Emory Cohen). However, after a family tragedy calls her back to Ireland, she finds that there’s a comfortable life possible for her there too, including a job, a nice man (played by Gleeson) and the comforts of a familiar world. Ultimately Eilis must choose whether her future lies in Ireland or America.

Brooklyn is a very nice film, and I mean that in the full, double-edged sword sense of ‘nice’. It’s well-acted, pretty to watch, tells a pleasant and often interesting story and absolutely has its heart in the right place. However, it’s also a little too pleasant and nice for its own good so that while it’s never dull, it’s also slightly difficult to feel fully pulled in by it.

Brooklyn is a film that trades on nostalgia, built from the ground up for those who either had family members who once emigrated from Ireland to America, or whose families once came to America themselves. It is a bit of a fantasy of the journey and what it means. For them, there will undoubtedly be an extra layer of emotion, but for everyone else it’s a fairly charming movie that never fully ignites. In its desire to be nice and gentle, the stakes never quite feel high enough and whenever real emotion feels like it’s about to break to the fore, the film gently pulls back (I did wonder whether it assumes its main audience will be old people, and so the makers were worried they’d kill them if anything too exciting happened).

I don’t want to sound too harsh as I certainly didn’t have a bad time watching it, and Brooklyn is certainly a great showcase for Saoirse Ronan’s talents. Three Oscar nominations and no more feels just about right, and its Best British Film win at the BAFTA was perhaps a little more than it deserved (indeed, I’d have voted for all the other nominees ahead of it).

Overall Verdict: Brooklyn is the perfect film for those who complain modern movies have too much action, drama and swearing. They will adore it, but everyone else is likely to think it’s nice, but wish a bit more would happen a bit quicker.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Special Features: Interviews with Saoirse Ronan & Colm Toibin,   Featurette,   Trailer

Brooklyn (Blu-ray Review) reviewed by Tim Isaac on 29th February 2016 rated 3.0 of 5

Related

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters  DIRECTORS: John Crowley  FILMS: Brooklyn  

Filed Under: Blu-ray Review

Search this site…

Get Social

RSSTwitterFacebook

Get new posts by e-mail

Get the latest in our daily e-mail

Latest Cinema & Home Ent. Reviews

Mortal Engines (Cinema Review)

Anna and the Apocalypse (Cinema Review)

Suspiria (Cinema Review)

Overlord (Cinema Review)

King of Thieves (Cinema Review)

Isle of Dogs (DVD Review)

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Cinema Review)

Tomb Raider (Blu-ray Review)

The Bridge 4 (DVD Review)

My Friend Dahmer (Cinema Review)

Latest News & Trailers

Detective Pikachu Trailer – Pokemon is going live action with Ryan Reynolds

Toy Story 4 Teaser Trailer – Woody & the gang are coming back once more

Aladdin Teaser Trailer – Guy Ritchie directs Disney’s latest live-action adaptation

New Glass Trailer – The worlds of Unbreakable and Split meet

Aquaman Extended Trailer – Jason Momoa goes to war under the seas against Patrick Wilson

New Overlord Trailer – Soldiers take on Nazi-created zombies in the JJ Abrams produced movie

The Mule Trailer – Clint Eastwood is an octogenarian drug runner opposite Bradley Cooper

Vice Trailer – Christian Bale transforms into former Vice President Dick Cheney

Mary Queen of Scots Trailer – Saoirse Ronan & Margot Robbie get Elizabethan

New Mortal Engines Trailer – London is literally on the move in the steampunk fantasy

Handpicked MediaHandpicked MediaCopyright © 2025 Muser Media · Powered by WordPress & Genesis Framework · Log in
Movie Muser is a member of The Handpicked Media network

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.