In America [HD]

Emotion raw and beautiful
For sheer catharsis, In America beats every movie I've seen since "The Sweet Hereafter" years ago. Like that movie, it deals with the aftermath of the death of a child; unlike that movie, it comes down (after much agony) on the side of a loving family as the only thing that can heal us.

The Sullivans, a young couple with two adorable daughters, slip illegally into the U.S., moving to New York. In theory this is to help Da start his acting career; in reality, it is an attempt to escape from the sad memories of young son Frankie, recently died at 5 of a brain tumor.

The performances are all, all stunning. Samantha Morton, her hair shorn like a penitent nun's, gives a stunning performance driven by the despair in her eyes. The real-world sisters Sara and Emma Bolger seem completely transparent; they leave the impression they are not acting at all, but really living the loss of their beloved brother. The African actor Djimon Hounsou looms like a sad but powerful diety over the...

Heartwarming and basically terrific.
Jim Sheridan's IN AMERICA, though you may not realize it when you watch it, is a fable about wishes, dreams, good defeating bad, families growing stronger, love outlasting all adversity and America as the land of opportunity. It's a delightful film, touching without being too cute.

One thing you must realize throughout the film, when it takes turns toward optimism when other films would grow darker, is that the story is told through the eyes of Christie, the 10-year-old daughter of an Irish immigrant family recently relocated to New York. She narrates the story. She speeds it up and slows it down as she needs to. She talks of her sister Ariel's fears, of her mother's strength and of her father's lost smile. And, most importantly, she puts a positive spin on each of her proud family's struggles.

Another director might have taken this same story and gone in a different, darker direction with it. The elements are there, certainly. The family is poor, living in a tenement alongside...

ultimately a beautiful and heartfelt work
Just saw this film for the second time at the theater, and the metaphor that comes to mind is that of peeling an onion. The first time I saw the film, the skin of the onion was removed. After the first half of the film it started sinking in that this was no mere string of episodes about Irish immigrants in New York City. It was clear from the first that there was good acting, and I expected only one of those European-style "slice of life" films, but I was delighted that the story actually built up a direction and a momentum and built to a truly impressive conclusion. Shakily photographed opening scenes turned out to be a deliberate and very appropriate work of craftsmanship linked into the heart of the film. The weirdly filmed sensual bedroom scene turned out NOT to have just been tossed in for its own sake, but rather was essesntial to set up symbols for the second half of the film. Not every note of the film rings true, but in the second half, once the characters are...

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