Brooklyn

John Crowley, 2015

IMDB

4/5

Brooklyn is an adaptation of the best-selling novel written by Colm Tóibín. Set in the Post WW2 1950's and shown through the eyes of Irish immigrant Eilis (Saoirse Ronan - Hanna, Grand Budapest Hotel), it shows an America that like today shows a country ripe with oppurtunity. Modern day New York City is filled with Irish ancestry but there was a period of time where the Irish/Italian ancestral lines weren't so embedded. Eilis is sort of thrown into this America. A priest sponsors her trip to America with the intention that she will find more oppurtunity and fulfillment there. Staying in her native Ireland means probably working a low-wage job and becoming a slave to the dreary monotony that seems to resonate through her small town. She would likely marry the neighborhood boy that wins the approval of her bitter mother. She would then take care of her mother until she died, and then inherit her home and stay there for the rest of her life. So she boards a ship with many other immigrants, a total fish out of water.

It's here that Crowley is able to capture some real emotion that lands on the screen. Much credit is due to Ronan who is able to display the unbearable homesickness, stranger anxiety, the grieving over a deceased loved one. She is able to balance the wide spectrum of emotions so remarkably, alwhile also showing a blossoming love with Italian man Tony (Emory Cohen). Ronan continues to impress, showing she is one of the more impressive leading performers working today. This film might break your personal record for most goosebumps felt. Brooklyn is a look at a bygone era. Where people looked out for each other more than they seem to do today. People weren't walking with phones in their hand looking down at a black mirror and instead used that free hand to hold a fellow person up. Brooklyn is also just another great example of how New York City is the best movie setting for romantic storytelling. Sorry Paris.

Stand by Me

Rob Reiner, 1986

IMDB

4/5

Stand by Me is not just a movie about a group of boys searching for a rumored dead body. That's all secondary. It doesn't really even matter if there even is a body at the end of their journey. Stand by Me is just an honest coming-of-age piece that will force any man watching to revisit their youth. The rapport between the four boys is identifiable to any grown man. Their world was a world that existed long before bullying was considered a punishable crime. They were living in a world where spankings were expected, getting picked on was the norm. When cold cuts cost $1 and the older men were slicking back their hair and driving fast cars.

Very much like Gordie recalls his youth after seeing a newspaper article, this film conjures up memories of your own youth. That group of friends that you would spend the summers running through the neighborhood with. Back then, they seemed like they would be life-long companions. Little did you know they were just those people who were there at that particular point in time. Those friends come and go. But for that little blip in time, they are your guides... your mentors, your support.

The film goes down as another one of Stephen King's masterpieces that made the successful transition to the big screen. King has a way of capturing the essence of relationships between people. He has also displayed the ability to see things through the eyes of children as he did in his 1986 novel It. There is a lot more to this movie than a fat Jerry O'Connell "sincerely" drinking game. It's a portal to your own past, when you had your whole life in front of you and the companionship.