Brooklyn (2015), directed by John Crowley

Adapted by Nick Hornby from a book by Colm Toibin, this delicate and slow-moving film is not for action freaks who can’t sit still and watch a story gradually unfold. A coming of age tale, told through the immigrant experience, it is in many ways a small film about love and family and finding a home. Eilis starts as a shy and reserved young woman with a limited future in country Ireland, who allows others to direct her. She gradually grows into a confident young woman who must choose between two men, two countries and two futures. Beautifully shot, the period looks and sounds authentic; the contrasting look and feel of 1950s Ireland and 1950s New York clearly demonstrating the difficult choices Eilis must make about her life. Saoirse Ronan carries the film, her expressive face taking the viewer inside Eilis’s head so that you feel all her emotions along with her. She is well supported by Emory Cohen and Domhnall Gleeson as the rivals for Eilis’s affection and future, as well as a solid extended cast of mostly Irish and British actors. The road not taken always provides an interesting story. Would making different decisions make us happier, or just happy in a different way? There is no way of knowing the answer, but this thoughtful film gently poses a question worth considering.