Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson star in the upcoming Brooklyn, which sees a young Irish girl travel to New York City in the 1950s.
If the trailer is anything to go by, the adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn is going to be spectacular:
Directed by John Crowley (Closed Circuit) with a screenplay by Nick Hornby, Brooklyn stars Saoirse Ronan as a young Irish girl named Ellis, who finds herself on the boat to New York City, as part of the 1950s immigration wave.
Despite the new opportunities and the vast Irish community in New York, Ellis is homesick for Ireland and her family.
Related: Saoirse Ronan confirms she auditioned for Star Wars: Episode VII
Her pain is somehow lessened when she falls in love with a young Italian (Michael Zegen), but when her sister dies, Ellis is compelled to return to Ireland. There, she is confronted with everything she left behind, and even finds herself falling for another man, played by Star Wars‘ Domhnall Gleeson.
Ellis now has to choose between her new life in Brooklyn, and the life she could have if she stayed in Ireland. As the trailer proclaims, “Home is home.”
Domhnall Gleeson’s Harry Potter mother Julie Walters also stars, with Jim Broadbent completing the Potter trio.
While Brooklyn won’t be released until later this year, it debuted at Sundance back in January, and was very well received by critics. As SlashFilm notes, its festival debut landed a $9 million distribution deal with Fox Searchlight, which means a limited release in the United States.
The trailer gives a glimpse into this much-romanticized post-war era, during which everything seemed possible. If nothing else, Brooklyn will give us a pang of nostalgia for a time we don’t even remember, but which we kind of wish we did.