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Review #10: Brooklyn (2015)
Brooklyn, the highly praised drama of 2015, do you remember it ? You know...the one that got nominated for three Oscars ! Do I think it deserves the buzz it got from the critics and the viewers ? You'll see.
During the 50's, Eilis, a young Irish woman that lives with her mother and sister, leaves her small home town and immigrates to America hoping to find a better future for herself. While there she is struck by homesickness, romance, success and tragedy.
Let's start first with the positives, then get to the negatives (if there are any); I really enjoyed the acting in this film, everyone does a fantastic job at portraying life during the 50's, I didn't think anyone stood out but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it just shows that everyone was consistently great. The clothing also helped in adding to the realism.
I also felt quite invested in the relationship between Eilis and her family, to the point where I think I was sadder for her than she was herself. Might I add that the writing for the whole film is incredible.
While in Brooklyn, Eilis falls in love with an Italian guy named Tony, and I unfortunately didn't feel as invested in their relationship as most people were, now don't get me wrong I do think they had great chemistry with each other, and it was really cute seeing them together on screen, but the lead up to them being in love with each other was a bit rushed for me. I could swear that they were together on screen for a total of 7 minutes maximum before they declared their love for each other. Which also leads me to my next critique which is Eilis's character, she blossoms from this extremely shy and homesick girl into a confident woman overnight after just one night with a guy, I don't buy that.
I might be getting into some minor spoilers but my next point is quite crucial, in the second half of the film Eilis has to go back to her home town for a specific reason and she meets another guy that she clearly and slowly gets emotionally attached to, that's fine and dandy but there was no established conflict between her and Tony in the first place for her to do that, their relationship was literally portrayed as perfect. And what's even worse is that this issue is never really addressed which was a big turn off for me.
The film can literally be cut in half and it would still be the same thing, and that's because the main character goes from point A to point B over the course of maybe 40 minutes ? If not even that. Eilis's character reaches the end of its reach during the first act of the movie, then remains the same for the entirety of the next hour.
Now it might seem that I am leaning more into hating this film than liking it, but that is far from the truth, I'm just quite disappointed. Overall, Brooklyn is really good, it managed to emotionally grasp me at times, the writing and the acting are very admirable, and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous therefore I'm going to give this picture a B+ (I'm actually jumping back and forth between a B and a B+, if there was a rating between those two that's what I would give it)
Brooklyn, the highly praised drama of 2015, do you remember it ? You know...the one that got nominated for three Oscars ! Do I think it deserves the buzz it got from the critics and the viewers ? You'll see.
During the 50's, Eilis, a young Irish woman that lives with her mother and sister, leaves her small home town and immigrates to America hoping to find a better future for herself. While there she is struck by homesickness, romance, success and tragedy.
Let's start first with the positives, then get to the negatives (if there are any); I really enjoyed the acting in this film, everyone does a fantastic job at portraying life during the 50's, I didn't think anyone stood out but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it just shows that everyone was consistently great. The clothing also helped in adding to the realism.
I also felt quite invested in the relationship between Eilis and her family, to the point where I think I was sadder for her than she was herself. Might I add that the writing for the whole film is incredible.
While in Brooklyn, Eilis falls in love with an Italian guy named Tony, and I unfortunately didn't feel as invested in their relationship as most people were, now don't get me wrong I do think they had great chemistry with each other, and it was really cute seeing them together on screen, but the lead up to them being in love with each other was a bit rushed for me. I could swear that they were together on screen for a total of 7 minutes maximum before they declared their love for each other. Which also leads me to my next critique which is Eilis's character, she blossoms from this extremely shy and homesick girl into a confident woman overnight after just one night with a guy, I don't buy that.
I might be getting into some minor spoilers but my next point is quite crucial, in the second half of the film Eilis has to go back to her home town for a specific reason and she meets another guy that she clearly and slowly gets emotionally attached to, that's fine and dandy but there was no established conflict between her and Tony in the first place for her to do that, their relationship was literally portrayed as perfect. And what's even worse is that this issue is never really addressed which was a big turn off for me.
The film can literally be cut in half and it would still be the same thing, and that's because the main character goes from point A to point B over the course of maybe 40 minutes ? If not even that. Eilis's character reaches the end of its reach during the first act of the movie, then remains the same for the entirety of the next hour.
Now it might seem that I am leaning more into hating this film than liking it, but that is far from the truth, I'm just quite disappointed. Overall, Brooklyn is really good, it managed to emotionally grasp me at times, the writing and the acting are very admirable, and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous therefore I'm going to give this picture a B+ (I'm actually jumping back and forth between a B and a B+, if there was a rating between those two that's what I would give it)