There's a shot in Brooklyn shortly after Eilis Lacey arrives in America where she stands amongst a crowd on the sidewalk she instinctively stands out as an outsider, despite no tangible element making her any different to the hordes of extras around her. It's a genius use of mise en scene, costume and performances that runs throughout the film, slowly reducing until Eilis becomes part of the firmament. What's so impressive is that the extent of her change doesn't become fully clear until the film's close, even after she's come to terms with her emotional distance from her native Ireland. On the way back to America she guides a new immigrant just in the way she was nurtured initially; she has, without the audience or herself noticing it obliquely, matured and become her own person. It's one of the year's most cathartic climaxes, coupled nicely with the underlying sense that confidence isn't something that must be fought to achieve. The handling of this key arc is what makes Brooklyn stand out from the rather trite period coming-of-age tale it could have been, with Saoirse Ronan's transformation gradually realised against the backdrop of several engaging subplots. Timeless. Read the full review here.
