Stories centered around the American immigration experience in many ways seem akin to the creation myths of much older countries. But whereas gods and goddesses may have divined their countries from the stars or sea or some other mysticism, America was built slowly over time. Be it migrant Asian natives who would form the beginnings of Native America, wandering from a now non-existent peninsula 24,000 years ago, or the slow but steady trickle of peoples from every nation on the planet seeking shelter, work, and freedom. Nothing inspires American pride more than tales of how we got here. John Crowley‘s Brooklyn isn’t exactly a creation story, in fact, it takes place in the ’50s years after the immigration boom to America, but this story—adapted by Nick Hornby from Colm Tóibín’s novel—encompasses that very real part of being American: balancing history with the future and learning to belong.

The young woman walking that fine line is Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), an Irish girl who is given the chance to move to America when job prospects in her small Irish town run dry. Her part-time job working in a convenience store is easy to say goodbye to—what with her boss being a stuck up gossip and all—and even her friends have romantic prospects and more contentment in their small town life. The hardest part for Eilis is leaving her elder sister Rose (Fiona Glascott) behind with their mother Mary (Jane Brennan), but she is assured by Rose that this is the right decision.

So Eilis departs, traversing literal rough seas on the voyage to America. Her bunkmate aboard the ship advises her, giving her a crash course in how to survive being alone in America so far from home. But nothing really prepares Eilis for just how homesick she becomes. Her boarding house-mother, Mrs. Kehoe (Julie Walters), holds nightly dinners, and these scenes are by far the most hilarious of the film, perfectly showcasing the variety of young women making their way in America, from old-fashioned to flashy and stylish. Mrs. Kehoe is the perfect blend of old Irish propriety curbed with sharp modern spunk and the way she chides Eilis’s more rambunctious cohorts and advises the girls on their skin regimens is just one of many great examples in the film of the way the women around Eilis are her greatest support system. When Eilis’s homesickness pushes her to sullen depression it prompts her new boss, Miss Fortini (Mad Men‘s Jessica Paré), to call in the priest who sponsored Eilis’s trip to America. Jim Broadbent plays Father Flood, who enrolls Eilis in a bookkeeping school in order to give her something to focus on to distract her from her sadness.

The plan works remarkably and as Eilis begins to invest in her future she starts to let down her guard. At a church dance one Saturday night Eilis is asked to dance by Tony (Emory Cohen), a young man who is instantly quite taken with Eilis’s quiet charm and fierce intelligence. He pursues her vigilantly, and to Eilis he is so completely American. His family is Italian, but their cultural background differences only make them more drawn to one another. Eilis’s spirits raise considerably—her wardrobe even brightens, and indeed the costume design is among the many details that elevate the film—and she and Tony allow themselves to fall head over heels.

But when tragedy strikes back home in Ireland, Eilis is thrust back into her previous world, and when she returns home she has to face her old life as a new person. Ronan magnificently portrays Eilis’s depth of feeling and inner struggle with choosing what sort of life she wants to mold for herself. Now an independent young woman, she finds herself to be more desirable than ever back home and she is given very real temptation in the form of Jim (Domhnall Gleeson), a tall and successful young Irishman who seems to have the same sort of ambition as Eilis combined with a love for their home country.

Eilis’s decision essentially boils down to choosing whether she wants to choose to be Irish or Irish-American, each choice attached to a very different man who promises a very different future from the other. This conundrum feels so very close to the heart of American patriotism. That those who formed this country, whether it was on the Mayflower or many years later as an immigrant, each had to choose to be American. Crowley keeps Eilis’s decision harrowing to the end, maintaining that it isn’t necessarily about choosing correctly, as there is no clear path, it’s about choosing one’s own identity.

Brooklyn is at once inherently American and incredibly multi-cultural, showcasing just how intricate and emotional the immigration experience was for many who came to this country. That it uses the perspective of an empowered and vibrant young Irish woman is what makes Brooklyn an excellent story. It’s an across-the-ocean love triangle yes, but it’s the battle within Eilis that is most interesting. Yves Bélanger’s cinematography makes 1950’s Brooklyn both exciting and alien at first but ultimately more romantic as Eilis’s experience there changes. The imagery of Ireland feels much more spacious, open and home-like. Ultimately the film is beautiful, but it’s Ronan’s sparkling eyes and subtle expressions that cause not only Tony and Jim to fall in love with her, but in fact everyone else in the film and all in the audience as well.

A perfectly crafted romance and pride-inducing immigration tale, Brooklyn feels very much like reading an engaging book. One you just can’t put down and immediately want to re-read once it’s finished.

Weaving a young Irish immigrant’s story into a heartfelt, romantic drama, Brooklyn exudes an entire diary’s worth of emotion with a light-handed touch. Based on Colm Toibin’s 1950s-set novel of the same name, Brooklyn follows Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) as she leaves her home in Ireland for a new life in America, torn between where she’s comfortable and where she finds opportunity. She arrives as a timid but amenable girl, unsure of what to say or simply too afraid to say it. Director John Crowley (Boy A, Closed Circuit) portrays a world in which the people around Eilis are consistently decent. In Brooklyn, the biggest obstacles facing new immigrants are loneliness and having been displaced.

After arriving in America, Eilis struggles to discover her sense of belonging. Stuck in a boarding house for Irish women run by Mrs. Kehoe (a wonderfully snappy Julie Walters), Eilis unhappily toils away at a department store, silently crying when she opens letters from home. It isn’t until she meets Tony (Emory Cohen), a handsome and soft-spoken Italian plumber, that Eilis starts to smile. His courtship of her is palpably sweet. As she finally opens up with him, talking up a storm through their first dinner together, Eilis’ restrained glee is contagious.

Nick Hornby (An Education, Wild) peppers the film with eloquently poignant lines of dialog. When Eilis first meets with the Irish priest (Jim Broadbent) that sponsored her voyage across the Atlantic, he tells her that homesickness is like any other malady and that it can linger for a while before getting passed onto someone else. The understated manner in which the script allows Brooklyn’s characters to articulate their hopes and fears creates earnestly powerful moments. There’s only one short romantic speech in the film and damned if it isn’t a more genuine expression of love than anything to have come from a Nicholas Sparks adaptation.

In a role perfectly suited to the emerging 21-year-old Irish star, Saoirse Ronan captivates in the part of Eilis. She conveys the anxiety of unfamiliar situations, as well as the joy of developing a real connection to others. Her growth from deferential girl into self-assured woman is a gradual process, enlivened through the subtlety of her acting. It’s an outstanding performance, rich with sentiment and sweetness. Emory Cohen’s charismatic presence is a treat, too, providing an affable quality in support of Ronan’s more serious demeanor. His sincerity as Tony is appealing without becoming preposterous. Even Domhall Gleeson, whose role as a potential new suitor in the story should elicit scorn, proves to be delightful.

The section in where Eilis gets forced into returning to Ireland adds complications to a film largely missing them. She returns as a radiant figure, her bright, American clothes distinguishing her from the crowd. Often, Crowley positions Eilis as a splash of color within a muted frame. As Eilis wavers on her fate, Brooklyn refuses to show its hand. It’s easy to imagine different audiences leaning towards separate conclusions from this love triangle, but its ending is a fitting, beautiful final note.

There’s nothing revolutionary about the love story depicted in Brooklyn; however, the restraint it shows with its dramatic tension makes the film a pleasant, tender drama. In fleshing out Eilis as a woman with a full life who aspires to more than just marriage, she becomes an endearing protagonist in a genre that often lacks those. Brooklyn is a gorgeous illustration of an immigrant’s experience in the mid-20th century, complimented by the touching romance at its core.

Talk about timely reviews, approximately 6 months after the movie was released in theaters, and one month after it was released on DVD the world will finally get to hear my much anticipated thoughts on the film. After years of dismissing Harry Potter as a silly children’s series, this 25 year old, chiseled, classically good-looking, professional accountant was swept up by the fascinating wizarding world. It was just too hard to ignore a series that has sold a bazillion copies, and had been a cultural phenomenon for 10 plus years. The books are amazing; JK Rowlings has created an incredible universe that sucks in both kids and adults. I am only truly lucky too not have discovered this series growing up, had I been younger, I guarantee I would have been that kid using spells in class, reading during recess, and realistically asking my teacher if magic was scientifically possible.

I promised myself I would only dedicate one chapter to the film series as a whole. I knew the movies would be just one interpretation of the novels, and in no way would it match up to the way I perceived the books. But as a whole, I have truly enjoyed each and every movie on very different levels. The majority of the film series criticism comes from what was left out of the novels. Many of the novels were over 700 pages long and there was just no way to put it all on the screen, a common problem with all films adapted from novels.

I personally enjoyed the earlier films because they had much simpler source material to cover. As the books progressed, the films became more and more disjointed as confusing plot points had to be condensed or all together left out. I personally feel Alfonso Cuaron’s The Prisoner of Azkhaban was the best film, as it transformed the series from an entertaining children’s series, to a much deeper, darker story, without losing any of the original charm.

As the seventh movie starts, Voldemort is on the rise, he has slowly been gaining power and support as the ineffectual Ministry of Magic has stumbled in their attempts to address the growing threat. Harry Potter and his two close friends, Ron Weasley, and Hermionie Granger, have decided to abandon their seventh year at Hogwarts and go on the run. They search out Horcruxes, pieces of Voldemort’s soul, in an attempt to finally destroy the dark lord. After Ron’s older brother’s wedding is interrupted by the bad guys, Harry and his friends go off the radar to avoid capture. The characters feel lost as Harry’s old school teacher and mentor, Albus Dumbledore, only left a series of mysterious clues and ambiguous plans. The trio feels alone and frustrated, as the pressure starts to mount, they have few allies and they struggle to identify, find, and destroy the remaining Horcruxes.

I was very excited to learn that Warner Bros. had officially decided to break up the complicated epic, that was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It truly allowed the first part to be a journey film, in which the true elements of each character are given time to grow and develop on screen. Few elements of the book were cut out as there was just so much more screen time to let the story breathe. Director David Yates, doing his 3^rd Harry Potter film, has put forth his best effort so far, the film is exciting, and visually impressive, yet the frustration and wandering of the novel is conveyed perfectly. The action is intense, the acting has really matured, and the vast characters and dialogue are masterfully condensed into a very focused, entertaining film. A very entertaining animated segment detailing the Tale of the Three Brothers is very concise and well executed. The only major criticism I have of the film, is that the other elements of the wizarding world are lost in the film, as it solely focused on the three characters and their pursuit of Horcruxes. Updates on Hogwarts, the growing threat of attacks on muggles, and the rise of death eaters in the ministry are largely left out.

Hardcore Harry Potter fans will not be disappointed. It is an exciting and faithful adaptation that really captures the essence of the book. Casual fans will enjoy it, as it is visually appealing and is definitely one of the better Harry Potter movies. If you have never heard of Harry Potter, well, I don’t know why you would start with the seventh movie. You will probably not like it as you will really not understand any of the characters or story, and you will probably just lump it in with Twilight, dismiss it, and make fun of anyone who does like it, and you probably have no imagination…or soul.