Saoirse Ronan in a scene from the film Brooklyn.Kerry Brown
The Vancouver International Film Festival runs Sept. 24 through Oct. 9. The Globe and Mail will pick one must-watch film each day and include a capsule review.
Saoirse Ronan puts a lock on a second Oscar nomination here with her finely calibrated performance as Eilis Lacey, an ingénue in the deeply prefeminist early-1950s caught between the novelty of new life and love in Brooklyn, and a deep attachment to her southern Ireland home.
Sensitively adapted by Nick Hornby (An Education, Wild) from Colm Toibin's bestselling novel of the same name, the movie gets the period just-so in terms of look, tenor and emotion.
John Crowley's direction, unfussy and thoughtful, pulls fine performances from Ronan's confederates, including Emory Cohen and Domhnall Gleeson as the stout-hearted love interests, Julie Walters as Lacey's sharp-tongued landlady and Brid Brennan as the venomous Miss Kelly.
Fans of the novel, of which I'm one, may find the film sweeter and more romantic than Toibin's original conception.