“I'd forgotten what this town is like!” In the early 1950's, moving away from home generally meant moving forever.

For Eilis (Saoirse Ronan - Atonement), moving from Ireland to Brooklyn meant joining the diaspora, and the probability of never seeing her mother or sister again. But America offered young Irish women a future, and the possibility of supporting their family, in ways they'd never know at home. She takes the plunge and arrives in New York with a vague contact in local priest Father Flood (Jim Broadbent – Le Weekend). Shortly after Eilis has a job in a department store and a home boarding with other Irish girls under the watchful eye of Mrs. Keogh (Julie Walters - Paddington).

Brooklyn distinguishes itself from similar girl-moves-out-to-grow-up yarns, a little from the talent behind camera (screenwriter Nick Hornby (An Education) for one, cinematographer Yves Bélanger (Dallas Buyers Club) for another), and a lot from that in front. Ronan shines in the lead role, perfectly capturing a mood that oscillates between innocence and worldliness, fear and determination while coping with the pressure of ‘abandoning’ the life she knew to make a new life abroad. It's perfectly placed, because if Eilis is going to make it there, she'll need to manage a whirlwind of emotion.

Based on Colm Toíbín's popular novel, Brooklyn is an exhilarating window on a world long passed, where distance was still a tyranny, when options for young women, particularly immigrant women, were few. There was little by way of an escape clause, as Eilis discovers when she falls for American-Italian Tony (Emory Cohen – The Gambler), a boy for whom family is just as powerful as it is for her. Marriage soon follows, presenting a whole new world of negotiation when she does return home for a visit, and finds Mother has her own plans for her daughter's future. The local catch, (Domhnall Gleeson – About Time) features heavily.

Brooklyn is unashamedly romantic in a Sunday-afternoon-TV kind of way, and therein its charm. Focusing on the rare pluck and humour of its protagonist, and by avoiding the cultural clichés it could so easily have been ensnared by, the film rises well above the pack. Ronan is the key to its success, her calm, elegant presence neutralising any sugary aftertaste the story could have had, allowing us to focus on the more interesting, grander themes. She even lets you succumb to a moist eye and not feel too guilty. Were all melodramas half this good.

// COLIN FRASER

Previewed at Verona Cinema, Sydney, on 6 October 2015