Ellis (Saoirse Ronan) is an Irish immigrant with big American dreams. It’s the 1950s and she’s leaving her mother and sister behind in her homeland of Cork. Her sister, Rose (Fiona Glasscott) can’t buy Ellis the future or the kind of life she needs. But, the local Priest has connections, arranging both ‘her papers’ and a job.
And so Ellis is off in her green woolen coat to cross the Atlantic…her spirit reminiscent of Titanic (except this film has her landing safe and sound in Brooklyn.) But first Ellis has learned that upon entry to America you must polish your shoes, don’t cough, don’t be pushy, and a list of rules… but whatever you do, don’t think like an American.
Ellis shares a boarding house with other immigrant girls who compare notes and naivety about life and boys. Until she meets one…an Italian young local, Tony (Emory Cohen) at the neighborhood dance. His pickup line is that he hopes when he goes through the pearly gates, the first sound he hears is her Irish Brogue.
Their relationship takes off in a rather unconvincing way and we’re never left to feel as if they really belong together. Deliberate by the filmmakers? Perhaps. No sooner she’s settled in, Ellis has to unexpectedly return home to Ireland. It is there – and upon meeting Jim Farrell (Domhnall Gleason) a man much more suited to her – that she must make a choice. Gleason is best known for his roles in Harry Potter but also in About Time opposite Bill Nighy, where he too, like our heroine has to make life-altering decisions.
The film is small, simple and sweet. A generic throwback to life as it once was, when family and commitment came first. This is immigration through innocent eyes wide with hope…and in a time when everyone was welcome to America. ♕ ♚ ♛