Irish cinema is a juggernaut right now.
The Queen of Ireland, Room, The Lobster, Song Of The Sea and now Brooklyn. Directed by John Crowley (Intermission, Closed Circuit, True Detective), Brooklyn tells the story of Eilish Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) who leaves 1950s Enniscorthy to take up a new life in Brooklyn. Adapted for screen by Nick Hornby from Colm Tóibín’s book, the film is genuinely emotional without being overly sentimental. It’s a bit slow in places but overall it’s a great watch. Both Brooklyn and Enniscorthy look amazing – expect Discover Ireland to be all over it.
And Ronan? Well, her performance is understated and commanding all at once. There’s been some Oscar chatter and you can see why. Since she burst onto the scene in 2007 in Atonement, she’s flitted between a variety of roles and characters – teenage assassin in Hanna, girl on the run in The Host – but as she says herself, she needed a film like Brooklyn to come along.
We caught up with her ahead of the movie’s Irish release on November 6th to talk about the movie, her own life growing up in NYC and she even gave us a musical audition. Fans of Jermaine Stewart, stand by.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
