Living in Toronto, the fourth most populous city in North America, means that a lot of the world comes to us!  This is the case with TIFF (the Toronto International Film Festival). Now in its 40th year, TIFF is recognized as one of the world’s most important film festivals along with the Venice, Cannes, Sundance, and Berlin film festivals.

This week I was lucky enough to get rush tickets to see Brooklyn, based on Colm Toibin’s 2009 best-selling novel, with screenplay by Nick Hornby (An Education, Wild) and direction by John Crowley (Intermission).  John Crowley was at the screening for a couple of minutes to introduce the movie, already screened at Sundance, as one about ‘family, memory, and making a new life’.

Brooklyn is my favorite movie this year.  It is beautifully filmed and emotionally portrayed, with innocently funny moments.   Brooklyn closely mirrors the book as the story of the immigrant experience; mid-20th century life; and love, family, and choices.

Without giving away too much, Brooklyn follows its heroine Eilis (pronounced ay-lish and played by Saoirse Ronan) from small-town Ireland, and the home she shares with her mother and sister, to Brooklyn where Father Flood (Jim Broadbent) has arranged work and an Irish boarding house for her.  Eilis is lucky to have Father Flood taking care of her, guiding and comforting her. When tragedy strikes and Eilis goes back to Ireland, she must make a decision about where home is. Continue reading →