In America
Sometimes, you're just primed to like a movie. Just as swarms of people have gone gaga over a bunch of short people taking a seeming eternity to rid themselves of one unwanted piece of jewelry over the past few years, I was extremely excited when I first started seeing trailers for Jim Sheridan's
In America in December. I love immigrant stories, I'm partial to cute kids done well, and Samantha Morton was in it to boot. When I saw that Sheridan had co-written the screenplay with his daughters, I was even more intrigued.
Then came the waiting - Fox wasn't planning to release it until May. And by the time I saw the listing for its preview during the Boston Irish Film Festival, the studio had delayed the release until fall, possibly to increase its chance at awards.
It deserves a bunch of them, even if it wasn't exactly the movie I was expecting. It's not really about the Sullivan family as immigrants, but as a family trying to heal from the death of their youngest child. That they arrive in New York with nothing but the clothes on their back is almost incidental.
The story is primarily told from the perspective of the two daughters, Christy (10) and Ariel (6), with Christy narrating; Christy also carries her camcorder everywhere, recording everything. The two are played by real-life sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger, who are both incredible. Emma is naturally cute but also able to be serious, which is really something incredible from a seven-year-old. Lots of little kids are adorable, but Emma Bolger is doing much more than smiling on cue - the girl is
acting.
Equally impressive is her older sister Sarah. While usually when young siblings are in a movie, it's the older one who is cast first with the younger added so that they look alike, but according to Sheridan's comments before the movie, Emma Bolger was cast first and then the script was rewritten to accomodate Sarah (Christy was originally 14, and the closest thing this movie has to a fault is that she still sometimes comes off as being older than the actress playing her). Anyway, she's quite good - she comes across as observant and strong, though that strength can be mistaken for "mere" innocence.
Paddy Considine, as the father, is also a relative newcomer who turns in a strong performance. He's a natural clown, with a lanky figure and almost-handsome features. He gives the appearance of wearing his heart on his sleeve, though something has been locked away inside him since his son died.
Samantha Morton, as the mother, is just as good as you would expect what with her being Samantha Morton and all. Her part is a little underwritten, but she absolutely pours herself into it.
And, finally, there's Djimon Honsou, as their artist neighbor. He's a bit of a stock character, the angry hermit who warms to the cute kids, but Honsou gives him both dignity and wit (which may be more important - too much dignity makes this archetype a cliché).
The story is simple - a family looking for a new start after a tragedy enters America illegally and sets down roots: The girls go to school, the father tries to find work as an actor, the mother gets pregnant, they befriend a troubled neighbor. What's incredible is the way it's told. I believed in what was happening, even though the cast often seemed more expressive than real people (though, with Considine, Morton, and the Bolgers in the cast, that's almost a given). The cinematography is also brilliant - the parts of New York where the Sullivans live look sordid and lived-in but also pregnant with possibilities.
This movie is not subtle. Sheridan claims that his experience coming to America for the first time twenty years ago was "far madder", and told anecdotes beforehand to verify that he'd reeled himself in. Still, the lightning bolt could be construed as a bit much. Another example is a very light spiritual/fantastic feel to the narration, with Christy saying she had been granted three wishes and how they had been used. It's an element that seems foreign to Jim Sheridan's gritty Irish films, but which I'm told often appears in daughter Kirsten Sheridan's work.
I loved this movie. There will be some who take it less seriously because it does retain a certain childlike innocence, but I usually think it's much harder to do that well than to tell a cynical story. Expect reminders of this movie's greatness come November.
