One of the things I’m pretty sure is a universal experience of children of immigrants is you hear all of the stories of how it was, back home. How different it is here. And the same way Canadians have a running tally of all famous people who are Canadian and will tell you at the drop of a hat, any time there’s someone vaguely of your parents’ country of origin in the news or entertainment, you get a text or a call or a ‘have you read…?’
So I’m going to have to endure my mother’s smug ‘I TOLD you about Colm Toíbín’ because Saoirse Ronan is starring in Brooklyn based on his book and I might want to watch it over and over and over.
What is it that looks so endearing about this trailer? I think it’s that Ronan’s often grave face looks so damn happy in Brooklyn. She’s so light and happy here, and it’s rare from her and it’s rare from Irish immigrant stories and sue me, I’m charmed by a boy who shows up to an Irish dance and also jokes about Irish people not eating pasta.
But… I’ve been primed for this my whole life. Irish stories tend to be about ‘can I possibly be allowed to be happy? Surely not’. It’s an exaggeration, maybe, but it’s what made the Maeve Binchy industrial complex go ‘round.
So I guess – who else is going to see this? Who else has been breathlessly waiting for Domhnall Gleeson to release another picture? I love this kind of movie – a small story about a big choice – but I’m kind of not sure who they’re going to market it to. Those boarding house scenes look like a lot of fun too – is there a way they can promote this as sort of an accidental romance? It’s almost like a proto-indie film – is there any way to promote crossover between viewers of this and say, ‘Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl’? “It’s like an Irish 500 Days of Summer with fewer quirks!” I don’t know.
See? Now I’m trying to help promote the movie. Saoirse Ronan is Irish, you know.
