Movie Reviews: Brooklyn, Spotlight, Room, and In the Heart of the Sea

Brooklyn

Brooklyn tells the story of a young Irish girl who travels to America in search for a life where she can have more opportunities than what Ireland can offer her. Eilis is played by Saoirse Ronan who gives such a warm and subtly perfect performance. Even with the painful homesickness Eilis feels for Ireland when she arrives in Brooklyn, she slowly begins to call America her home and feels like she has found her place. She grows even more fond of her new home when she meets a young Italian man. An unexpected event though makes her return to Ireland where she faces the tough decision of choosing between her life in Ireland or her life in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is a gem of a film and one of my favorites of the year. Saoirse is truly wonderful in the lead role, but Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters, and Jim Broadbent wonderfully round out the cast. What I think works so well is that the film is quite simple. There isn’t anything fancy about it, it just tells a story that will make you think about the generations of people who took that trip across the ocean to find a new life.

Spotlight

Similar to Brooklyn, Spotlight works so well because it is understated. The story focuses on a group of reporters in Boston who expose the coverup of the Catholic child molestation scandal. Although the story they tell is horrible on many levels, the film is done with poise and precision. It is fascinating to watch the story unfold and you feel like you are working with them as you watch the characters inch their way closer and force their way into the cracks of the facade. Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Brian d'Arcy James, Live Schreiber, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci star, all of whom give strong performances. 

Room

This is probably one of the few films this year that really stuck with me for days after. The story begins in a room, a room that holds a young mother and her son. The mother was taken at 17 years by her captor, who they call Old Nick, and has lived locked in the room for seven years.  We watch as her son turns five years old and see how, even though she has very little and is in such a harrowing position, she protects her son and gives him all she can in their little room. Brie Larson stars as Ma and Jacob Tremblay plays Ma’s son Jack, who are both terrific. Brie Larson clearly had a difficult task given how complex the emotions the character needed to feel how important her relationship had to be with her son. She is deserving of awards attention for her role (even if my heart belongs a bit more to Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn), but Jacob Tremblay is equally deserving and should not be forgotten. What he accomplishes in the movie is truly remarkable for such a young actor. Halfway through the film the tone shifts from capture to freedom, after an intense escape scene. As we see Ma and her son out in the world, we see the new difficulties and challenges they are faced, and although the film had emotional ups and downs, I was left hopeful by the closing moments of the film.

In the Heart of the Sea

While stylized quite well, In the Heart of the Sea just felt like it was missing something. The story is set up where an older man, played by the fantastic Brendan Gleeson, begrudgingly shares the story of his time whaling when he was a young man to Moby Dick author Herman Melville. This narration struck me as odd right away, seeing as though the film felt more in the perspective of Chris Hemsworth’s character, Owen Chase. Through the man’s story though we see the crew meet the legendary Moby Dick and attempt to survive their ship’s sinking at the tail of the fierce beast. Ultimately the scenes with the whale were quite colossal and exciting, but it felt like it was missing some heart and focus. It could have used a more solid and established leading character and a better build up to the first whale attack. There were some other good actors involved in the film though, including Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw, Tom Holland, and Benjamin Walker. Although I do not know the accuracy, I did find the scenes showing why and how whaling was done quite fascinating, seeing as though it was something I had never thought about. Because I did not feel very connected to the characters though, I found myself rooting for the whale and did not particularly care how the castaways ended up.