Brooklyn

I don't recall the exact moment I started crying during Brooklyn, but I do know that I didn't really stop until the end of this thoroughly beautiful film.

And something especially pleasing was that Brooklyn, adapted from Colm Toibin's novel by screenwriter Nick Hornby and directed by John Crowley (the powerful Boy A), didn't resort to heavy-handed manipulation to elicit such a response.

This is a lovingly and carefully crafted film with the quiet, simple elegance and emotion of a poem or a sketch, one that explores actions and decisions that are commonplace but life-altering.

"I'm away to America," announces Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), a young woman confined by the lack of opportunities of her small Irish town in the 1950s. Her beloved older sister and a benevolent priest (Jim Broadbent) have sponsored her immigration to the United States, where she'll begin a new and better life in the New York borough of the title.

That better life seems out of reach for Eilis, though — she has a job in a department store and a home in the boarding house run by Mrs Keogh (Julie Walters, a treasure) but she's shy, lonely and homesick.

Gradually she emerges from her shell, thanks in large part to the return of her confidence but also due to the friendships she forms in Brooklyn's community of immigrants and the affections of Tony (Emory Cohen, cornering the market on charm), a lovestruck Italian plumber who positively glows in Eilis' presence.

However, a family tragedy sees her travel back to Ireland, where the familiarity of home and the kind attentions of Jim (Domhnall Gleeson) exert a pull that make the decision to return to America more difficult than Eilis could have imagined.

Brooklyn presents its smart, grounded central character with plenty of complications, but none that seem contrived.

Instead, it thoughtfully, tenderly and humourously depicts the challenges of moving in new directions while trying to retain some connection with the people, places and events that have made you who you are.

And key to its success is Ronan, whose lovely, expressive face and extraordinary emotional access make Eilis' hopes, dreams and choices understandable and relatable to anyone who watches Brooklyn. And everyone should watch Brooklyn.