Review: Brooklyn (2015)

The countdown to the Oscars is on and so is the annual tradition (not technically a tradition yet as its only the second year for me) of racing to watch all of the big hitters before the big day.  Brooklyn was one I was looking forward to anyway so it was a good one to kick off with.

Year two for me, too! I think the tradition for me is more of an 'UGH I don't even want to watch half of these movies Jenna why are you making me'!

Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) is young girl growing up in Enniscorthy, Ireland who feels like her life is going no where.  Her sister, Rose (Fiona Glascott) sorts her a job and place to live in Brooklyn, New York.  After suffering with homesickness she finally starts to feel at home and in love when tragedy brings her back to Ireland.  The prospect of another life and love makes Eilis question where her heart lies.

I've only seen Saoirse Ronan in a handful of movies and I only really liked her in The Grand Budapest Hotel (I knew she looked familiar!) so I was a little bit concerned that I might not like her in the lead but really wanted to watch the film.  I couldn't have been more wrong, she was incredible and absolutely stole the show, I don't think this would have been the same with any other actress.   Throw in Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Domnhall Gleeson (Is it me or is he in absolutely everything at the minute?! He is, and I'm LOVING it) and what's not to love?

Safe to say I couldn't convince the fiance to watch this one with me ("but it has General Hux in, it's practically Star Wars!") so I watched this alone. I'm not one for romance movies without a hefty dollop of comedy thrown in, but I was weirdly kind of hooked within the first 10 minutes.

I was completely taken with the film, I didn't move once, no fidgets, no toilet visits, not even a sip of drink - I had chronic dry mouth by the time it was over but it was worth it.  For me it was like a grown up version of the teen romances films I loved as a teenager, I grinned when she fell for loveable Tony (Emory Cohen) and wanted to shout at her when she considered a different life with Jim (Domhnall Gleeson). Tony's little brother was one of the cutest movie kids ever! Just no filter on what comes out his mouth. Love it.

I felt like the worst person in the world for wanting Eilis to stay with Jim. He was such a sweetheart though! Domhnall Gleeson just owned 2015. Like, this time last year he was just a Weasley brother to me, and not even one of my favourites, and now he's just BAM. In every movie I've watched last year. Or at least it felt that way.

It was really clever how they made subtle changes to Eilis's wardrobe, hair and make up throughout the film to show how she grows and changes as a person.  When she heads back to Ireland, you can see the distinct differences between the way she dresses and holds herself and the way her friends do, and how she used to be.  It's just another reminder of how good Ronan is in this role.

I thought that, too! She starts off so quiet and sheepish at the start of the movie, and the changes in her are so subtle. It wasn't until the final scene that you can really compare just how much she's grown.

Ronan is utterly engaging throughout, no need to be a hopeless romantic you'll love it anyway.

My Hometown Blogathon

The lovely Caz at Let's Go To The Movies is hosting her first Blogathon right now, and she's come up with a brilliant idea. Everyone who takes part is going to put a film/TV/theatre orientated post about their hometown. It's going to be so interesting to read everyone's posts! I had very little knowledge about my own hometown on this subject before drafting this post, so it'll be insightful to read the others.

Jenna lives in Birmingham, and I live in a little town just outside it, although I've worked in the city centre for the last 5 years so I would say it counts! We may not have the likes of Brad Pitt roaming our streets on the weekend or the film crew for the next Transformers film closing our roads off for shooting, but we do have a few cool links.

Does the name Julie Walters ring any bells? She played Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter series. Julie was born in Birmingham in 1950, and got kicked out of grammar school for bad behavior! She went on to train as a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital before leaving to study English and Drama at what is now known as Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2009, Julie received a star in Birmingham's walk of stars on its famous 'Golden Mile', Broad Street.

I'm not sure how many of our BBC programmes are popular across the pond (apart from Sherlock and Dr Who!) so you may not have even heard of this before, but BBC's Peaky Blinders is set and filmed in Birmingham. It's a historical drama based on a criminal gang in the late 19th century. Apparently, they got their name, Peaky Blinders, from the disturbing fact that they sewed razor blades into their flat caps to use as a weapon.

If you haven't heard of the TV Show itself, you've probably heard of its main actor, Cillian Murphy. Tom Hardy has also recently joined the cast for Season 2. Since writing this I learnt that Season 1 aired on the US version of Netflix on 30th September 2014, and Season 2 will launch later in November.

I'd just like to give a mention to the Cineworld Broad Street cinema too. It's not my local but Jenna & I have seen a few films there together. It's also been home to a few premieres, namely Tom Hardy's fairly recent film, Locke, Peaky Blinders Season 2 and if I remember correctly, Dr Seuss' The Lorax.

This looked really interesting so I thought I would do a little research myself. 

The man who played R2D2, Kenny Baker was actually born in Birmingham in 1934.  Kenny is one of only 2 actors who have starred in ALL six Star Wars movies (so far!).

I personally live about 10 minutes walk from Sarehole Mill which after moving to Birmingham in 1896 was a haunt for JRR Tolkien and his brother.  Many of these areas including Moseley Bog were inspiration for The Shire and Hobbiton in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit - New Zealand pfft, they should have filmed in Hall Green, Birmingham!!

Lastly (but might be pushing it a little bit) Birmingham is in the Midlands and I found out that Superman IV, that was supposed to be set in New York was actually filmed in Milton Keynes which is also in the Midlands.  Apparently, due to budget constraints after the first 3 films they didn't have the spend to film in New York.  Supposedly, if you watch the film you never see the top of the buildings because Milton Keynes doesn't have skyscrapers.  The UN building that is used in the film is actually Milton Keynes train station.

I hope this is somewhat interesting to read, but it's certainly been interesting to research my own local area in terms of the film and TV business! Thanks again for hosting this blogathon Caz, we've loved taking part.