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I’ve got a few more movies with positive vibes about new beginnings and fresh starts to help blunt the January blues.
Today: 2015’s Brooklyn. Saoirse Ronan is a marvel, her performance elegantly nuanced as a smart, ambitious young woman who emigrates to 1950s New York City for the opportunities that her Irish hometown cannot provide. This beautiful film bursts with the poignancy of the impossible conflict between wanting your life to change for the better while also not wanting other things to change at all. The tragedy of Ronan’s Eilis is that as her prospects widen, she has to reconsider everything about who she is, what she wants, and where she belongs… and that is her triumph, too.
US: rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
UK: stream on Lionsgate+ (via Prime); rent on BFI Player and Curzon Home Cinema; rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV; streaming on BBC iPlayer from January 24
See Brooklyn at Letterboxd for more viewing options.


















