Brooklyn (the film) - adventure is something, and nothing.

I haven’t written about a film, or a play, or a book in ages cos YA BOO it’s all been about me. Aaaaagh boys, or aaaaah work is going too well, or WOAH I got a tattoo (did anyone else ever get a tattoo?)

Obviously priority blogs in the wings are still ‘that thing he said on tinder’ or ‘god I need to delete tinder’ but for now, here’s a little culture ponder.

Brooklyn had a really shit poster so I didn't go see it when it came out. I was wrong not to - it’s a beautiful piece of storytelling. Following Ellis Lacey (the irrefutable Saoirse Ronan) moving to New York from a tiny town in South East Ireland. Now (2010’s) the town has a population of 10,000, then, less. So it’s small. The whole place is painted as a petri dish of gossip and power play – like the day after the office party every day of the year.

The magic of this film is its subtlety and warmth. Ellis has been sponsored to move to New York as her sister recognizes she's set for bigger things and applies for her sponsorship. There is never any shoehorned narrative where she is shown as ‘being clever’ – it’s just a fact. So often when female characters are placed at the centre of a narrative, any intelligence, wit, awareness are blasted at the viewer – not here. She can just be.

To see a female character presented like this means two things to me. One, we can watch women boss it and own screen time apropos of nothing. And two, the lack of aggression in the film towards her failing means we’re now allowed to watch multifaceted women on screen and nominate them for Oscars. By lack of aggression, I refer to her stern manager at her department store in Brooklyn allowing her to take a break when her homesickness is rendering her incapable to work; her sponsor (YAY JIM BROADBENT) signing her up for book keeping classes without a hint of drama at the fact she will be the only woman in the class.

The dilemma and reality of having two homes – one’s heart in two places is explored. She is a natural happy fit for Brooklyn – but the town she was born in now feels available to her as she can see it for what it is. It does help that she spends a fair bit of time with Domhnall Gleeson, hubba hubba, when she’s back at home. We all would. KIDDING. Not kidding.

I have always said home is where I am. I'm a home whore. I could go back to Bristol now and I still get tingles when I walk past places that my wee self spent time in. I could go to Birkenhead (it’s been a while) and I’m sure I’ll get a rush of nostalgia, and things will feel familiar, I could go back to Kent and roll my eyes at the skinny side-eye and awful hair but I know I would be in good company. I could go to Adelaide and walk in the front door of the Porter St Mansion and know I’m home. The thing is, we choose where we want to be, who we want to be with. To watch a girl in the 50s owning that – suffer the loneliness, fear and then look forward is inspiring to me. Watching her endure the earth shattering physical pain of being separated from the people she loves, makes me feel like we should all be a little less scared of what adventure means – and all without getting on a massive boat for weeks and weeks cos we prefer burning dem fossil fuels up high in the sky.