All That Shimmers
October 26, 2015
Brooklyn (2015).
D: John Crowley. DP: Yves Bélanger. W: Nick Hornby (based on Colm Tóibín’s novel of the same name). Starring: Saoirse Ronan/Emory Cohen/Domhnall Gleeson/Julie Walters/Jim Broadbent/Fiona Glascott/Jesscia Paré.
One of my many pleasures in reading is seeking out books that are to be adapted for the screen. This has lead me to read many a novel I would otherwise never pick up or indeed challenge myself to read a 900 page Russian novel (I’m looking at you Anna Karenina). Rarely am I pleased with an adaptation to the point where I might slightly prefer the film. This is the case with Brooklyn and Nick Hornby’s adaption of Colm Tóibín’s novel, which was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2009.
Brooklyn is a story of homesickness, of being of two places, two minds, and of learning who you are, no matter where you live. The film, like the novel, is structured into three acts as Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) leaves her Irish village to live and work in Brooklyn, N.Y., but return home when a family tragedy occurs. Her emigration to the States is not an act of will or dreams of a her own, but rather the wish of her elder sister Rose’s (Fiona Glascott) desire for her to have better life. As revealed in the trailers, Eilis falls in love while in Brooklyn and is presented with another romantic option when she returns to Ireland.
Nick Hornby, who most recently adapted Wild, excels here with his adaption of the novel. The story is trimmed in the right places and is able to hit all the ranges of Eilis’ physical and emotional journey across the Atlantic. There are few actual changes, with the ending being the main one as it is dialed up to deliver a proper cinematic punch that the novel did not provide. Hornby’s fluency in fiction and clear skill at knowing what works in cinema is one of the highlights of this project. Director John Crowley and Canadian cinematographer Yves Bélanger (Wild, Dallas Buyers Club) make an excellent team focusing on Ronan’s face as the axis of emotional action for the film. Costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux works wonders with color and clothes so the 1950s remains a setting and not an overcooked look.
This is the first Irish set film for Irish actress Ronan, known for her brilliant child performance in 2007’s Atonement and subsequent films like The Lovely Bones, The Host and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Her eyes are a translucent cerulean blue that shimmer in an open round-face, that registers even the slightest flicker of emotion. In nearly every scene of Brooklyn Ronan is the compass, and delivers the audience the shades of Eilis’ journey. Her chemistry with Emory Cohen (who plays her Italian American love Tony in Brooklyn) is fabulous. Cohen’s smile brings Tony right off the pages of the novel. Domnhall Gleeson, whose career is on a fiery trajectory, gives a restrained performance as Jim, the Irish love option back ‘home.’ Julie Walters is also brilliant as the woman who runs the boarding house Eilis’ lives in; greater humor is given to the veteran actress.
Brooklyn will surely soar through awards season, and it is rightly deserved for a film with such a low budget it could only shoot two days in Brooklyn, its main location. Released at a timely moment in the UK with emigration a hot topic here, the film is ultimately an exploration of our definitions of home. What happens when you are no longer of the place you were born, but don’t quite fit into a new place yet. Languishing in this nebulous emotional space, the film remains true to the idea that people make our lives. All I can conclude with is, go see it.
Surviving the Looking Glass
January 29, 2015
Ex Machina (2015).
D/W: Alex Garland. DP: Rob Hardy. Starring: Domhnall Gleeson/Oscar Isaac/Alicia Vikander/Sonoya Mizuno.
Robots and artificial intelligence have long obsessed humans, filmmakers not excluded. Ex Machina will join a large canon of cinema tackling the questions of artificial intelligence and the boundaries of consciousness. This exploration is the thru line of this new film that finds a young computer coder plopped into his prodigy boss’s compound for a week to act as a test for his newest creation.
Writer and director Alex Garland ventures into his first directing experience with Ex Machina. A novelist as well as a screenwriter, Garland is mostly known for the scripts of 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Never Let Me Go. Here he lends a subtle hand to a story that could have easily gone into sci-fi cheeseland. The Norwegian landscape and beyond are breathtaking and work in gorgeous relief to the questioning with the walls of the secluded house. Garland’s script balances humor with philosophy while his filmmaking creates a sense of space without losing the close character connections.
For a film that relies on just four actors to carry the story, Ex Machina’s cast is exemplary. Domhnall Gleeson’s Cable uses his sweet lankiness here to disguise the more questioning and intense side of his character. The audience discovers as Caleb discovers while narrative subterfuge begins from another character, almost invisibly. Gleeson physicality is contrasted well with Nathan (Oscar Isaac) whose acts of dominance cannot hide a brilliant yet boundary bushing mind. Isaac’s eccentricities never become jarring, but rather keep changing the stakes of the film from start to finish. Also, there now exists a fabulous dancing scene featuring Isaac.
Alicia Vikander, as Isaac’s creation Ava, is not only beautifully constructed with her hands, feet and face on display against the machinery, but never misses a beat. With an eery beauty and glimmer of innocence, Vikander use of gesture is so subtle it’s easy to miss. Having worked with Gleeson in Anna Karenina, the pair play well off each other without any level of triteness. And although Sonoya Mizuno’s Kyoto lacks a voice, her physicality is a fascinating tracking device for the plot and is not forgotten amidst the turmoil of Ex Machina.
Overall the film is a successful venture for Garland, even its cheaper fixtures feel earned within a strongly compelling take on a well oiled subject. Discussions of its ending will surely drive a long conversation. But, three cheers for original work that holds its ground amongst fierce competition and history.