Home Is Where the Heart Is — Brooklyn Movie Review

John Crowley's film Brooklyn, based on the Colm Toíbín novel of the same name, was one of the London Film Festival galas for which I didn't manage to secure tickets. But as a result of the film's popularity, the BFI put on another preview screening on Saturday evening, followed by a Q&A with Crowley himself. The £9.15 members' tickets were also a steal compared to the £28 price for the LFF gala.

I read Toíbín's hugely popular novel more than five years ago and although I remembered the basics of the plot, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed reading it and, in particular, how well-drawn the character of the protagonist, Eilis, and her emotional journey felt. Crowley's film, with a screenplay by Nick Hornby, is a relatively faithful adaptation of the novel, although with some structural changes.

Brooklyn opens in the early 1950s in the small Irish town of Enniscorthy. Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) is preparing for her imminent emigration to the United States, which has been arranged by her beloved elder sister Rose (Fiona Glascott) and a friend of Rose's, Father Flood (Jim Broadbent), a priest who lives in Brooklyn and who has organised the documentation for Eilis and even found her a job. Eilis fears that she will miss her sister and their lonely, ageing mother (Jane Brennan), but Enniscorthy doesn't offer her many prospects — for work, fun or love.

After a rough voyage to New York, Eilis arrives in Brooklyn wide-eyed and terribly homesick. She doesn't enjoy her job in a fancy department store but starts to take night classes in accountancy at a local college. She lives with a gaggle of other Irish girls in a boarding house run by the formidable Mrs Kehoe (Julie Walters), who favours Eilis on account of her being less "giddy" and catty than the others. It is only when she meets a charming Italian chap named Tony (Emory Cohen) at a church dance that the homesickness finally begins to fade. As their romance blossoms, Eilis begins to hope that she may be able to build a new life — and home — for herself in this strange new land.

But a sudden turn of events means that Eilis must return to Ireland for a few weeks. She has already booked her boat ticket back to New York, but her mother and, seemingly, most of the other residents of Enniscorthy seem to be conspiring to try to convince her to stay. She spends time with her best friend Nancy (Eileen O'Higgins), she gets a part-time job as a book-keeper and she develops a friendship with the town's most eligible bachelor Jim (Domhnall Gleeson). Life in Enniscorthy no longer feels like a prison sentence and this, added to familial duties and a real love for her home, mean that Eilis must make some very tough life choices.

Ronan is terrific in the central role. She masters the more complex, nuanced emotions her character undergoes just as well as the lighter and more comic moments (of which there are many). Crowley told us in the Q&A that Ronan had actually moved from home to London during the filming of Brooklyn and experienced some of the homesickness and feeling of being pulled in two quite different directions as her character. The other actors don't get much screen time but put in some great performances, especially Walters and the gaggle of girls at the boarding house. The two love interests — played by Cohen and Gleeson — both have great chemistry with Ronan, even though the brash but sweet alpha-male-ness of Tony contrasts greatly with the understated, sensitive and tender Jim.

The film is also beautifully shot, with meticulous attention to detail. Crowley talked at length in the Q&A about the changing colour palettes (including in the costumes) as the film progresses. Despite the film's name, they could only afford two days of shooting in Brooklyn, so Montreal stepped in for many of the interior scenes. The Irish scenes were shot on location in Enniscorthy, where many of the residents appeared as extras or spent days on end watching the filming.

Brooklyn is a love story, a timeless, compelling and unusually structured one at that, but it is really about the journey of its central character: her physical journey, of course, but also the steps she takes towards independence, self-knowledge and understanding of her place in the world. And that journey is something we can all relate to, whether it's 1950s Brooklyn or 2010s London, and beyond.

Lisbon Specialty Coffee Guide

Lisbonites love their coffee and it's easy to get a decent bica (a slightly longer version of an espresso) for around €1 all over town. If you're looking for a longer drink, however, third-wave coffee bars are only just starting to arrive in the city and the quality is more variable. Here are a few of my favourites.

Lisbon Day 4: Sunshine and Azulejos

Tuesday was my last day in Lisbon and finally, the sun came out to play. It was 24 degrees and sunny right up until the time I had to leave for the airport. This was the weather I had hoped for on this trip.

I checked out of my B&B early and went straight to the start point of Tram 28, Lisbon’s most famous tram, at Martim Moniz. It was just after 9 am but there was already a long queue. I had to wait for the second tram — about 25 minutes — before I could get on, and the queue had doubled in length by then. It was quite fun to ride the tram and I managed to get a seat by the window, albeit facing sideways so I ended up with a bit of a stiff neck. 

Lisbon Day 3: Day Trip to Sintra

Many of Lisbon's museums and other attractions are closed on Mondays so I decided to visit the nearby town of Sintra, with its stunning castles, palaces and other architectural delights perhed high in the hills.

Lisbon Day 2: Belém It on the Boogie

My Lisbon curse struck again on Sunday morning but this time I was ready to fight back. It had rained heavily overnight, but by the time I'd had breakfast, the sun was out again. I wanted to visit the suburb of Belém while the weather was nice and before the crowds arrived, so I walked down to Praça do Comercio to pick up the 15E tram. 

Lisbon Day 1: Tram-spotting and Rain Dodging

I've been in Lisbon for just over 24 hours and I'm really starting to like the city. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure the feeling is mutual. Before I arrived, I knew that the weather wasn't going to be great — rain every day — but I was expecting intermittent light showers rather than the torrential downpours that plagued Saturday. Still, when I woke up in my Chiado B&B, it wasn't rainy yet and I could see the Castelo São Jorge in the distance.

What's in My Bag: 4 Days in Lisbon

I'm off adventuring again today, destination: Lisbon. Somehow, I have never been to Portugal and the capital city with its colourful buildings, winding streets and pastéis de nata (custard tarts like you've never had before) was extremely appealing. The comparisons to San Francisco — one of my favourite cities in the world — also caught my eye.

As I am flying out with Easyjet, who only allow one piece of cabin baggage, I decided to bring my Kipling suitcase, which is smaller than my Samsonite cabin case, but which has a slip pocket on the outside where I can keep my laptop and a few other flight essentials, meaning that I don't have to take forever rooting through my case on the plane. I'm flying home with BA, so I can check my suitcase and carry on my large Lonchamp tote if I do end up doing a lot of shopping.

The weather isn't looking too great, unfortunately, but hopefully the sun will come out to play at least for a little while. As ever, I have packed light. Clothing-wise, this means a pair of jeans, four tops, two dresses, a couple of cardis, a black blazer, my black ballet flats and Nike trainers, as well as running kit and a bikini (just in case the weather is nice enough for the beach). Then I have my usual collection of gadgetry (MacBook Air, iPad Mini, DSLR with this Sigma lens, Bose headphones, selfie stick and the necessary chargers) and other necessities (sleep mask, sunglasses, brolly, Moleskine notebook, purse and passport).

October has been very hectic and I have had only limited time to research my trip, although I have identified a couple of promising coffee bars, and various friends have provided some great food and drink recommendations. Nonetheless, I am happy to trust my Lonely Planet Pocket Lisbon guide. I always try to buy Lonely Planet guides when I'm travelling — the recommendations are great and there is the right balance of information and images. The Pocket series is particularly good for long weekends: there is a handy Day Planner section that offers suggestions for how to spend four days in the city, and then each area in the city is covered in detail, with sight-seeing, food, drink, shopping and entertainment suggestions. The new edition of the Lisbon guide is out now and Lonely Planet kindly sent me a review copy. I've already been using it to start to plan my trip and it will accompany me all weekend.

Disclaimer: Lonely Planet sent me a review copy of their new Pocket Lisbon guide. All opinions are my own.

LFF 2015 Part II: Youth Review

"Does he know how old I am?" This is how Michael Caine responded when he heard that Paolo Sorrentino wanted to cast him as the lead in his new film Youth. Actually, his first response was, "You mean he's heard of me?" I saw the film tonight at a London Film Festival screening, which was attended by Sir Michael, Sorrentino, and various co-stars, including Harvey Keitel, Paul Dano and Paloma Faith. Suffice to say that it was a fun night — and the film itself is a compelling story of friendship, success, regret and hope.

Almost all of Youth takes place at a luxurious spa retreat deep in the Swiss Alps. Fred Ballinger (Caine), a renowned composer and conductor, likes to get away from it all for a few weeks every summer at the same hotel. His close friend Mick (Keitel), a film director, is also there, along with a gaggle of young, self-deprecating writers who are trying to help him decide how to end his next film, Life's Last Day. The two chat about their children — Fred's daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz), who is also his assistant, is staying at the hotel too — their work, life itself and their inability to pee.

Events happen around them — Mick struggles with the casting on his film, while Fred must deal with his heart-broken daughter and fend off the advances of an emissary to the Queen of England, who is desperate for him to conduct one of his most special works — yet very little really happens. The hotel is packed with activities as diverse as rock climbing, spa treatments and live music, but everyone seems bored. Ennui is the dominant emotion.

Despite this absence of activity, the film is beautifully made and extremely enjoyable. The chemistry between Caine and Keitel, who met for the first time on the set of Youth, is wonderful and you feel that you could watch the two of them pootling around the Alps, making small-talk, for hours. But although the gorgeous scenery predominates, there are some particularly cinematic moments: Fred — ever the conductor — sits in a quiet field listening to the sound of the cows' bells tinkling, but in his head, it sounds like a symphony. Then there is the morning rush to the pools and treatment rooms: guests and staff, clad in white robes and uniforms, flit through the halls of the hotel in perfect synchrony as though they are part of a corps de ballet.

The other hotel guests provide some light relief for Fred and Mick: Paul Dano plays an actor who hates that everyone knows him only from a role in a robot movie, for example. Mick fails to recognise both Miss Universe and Paloma Faith, who has a small role as herself. There are some very funny lines, but there are sadder moments too. Fred and Lena talk wistfully of Fred's wife, Melanie, and Weisz has a particularly powerful and angry monologue that takes place while the two characters are having some kind of chocolate facial. Amid all the small talk there is a lot of emotion, and Sorrentino does a beautiful way of communicating this through sound and touch as well as vision.

During the Q&A, an audience member asked Sorrentino if Youth was a sort of sequel to La Grande Bellezza (which I still haven't seen), but Sorrentino explained that it was more the opposite. He said that Youth is as simple as La Grande Bellezza is complex, and that in many ways this was his effort to distance himself from the latter, in the same way Paul Dano's character in the film goes to dramatic lengths to distance himself from the robot movie. Meanwhile Caine said that what he loved most about the film was that every scene involved something he had never done before, to the extent that it felt like being a youth again.

Sadly, this is my last film in this year's London Film Festival. Next year I really must try not to book any holidays during the festival so that I can go to a few more screenings.

LFF 2015 Part I: Hello, Darkness, My Old Friend (Queen of Earth Review)

The London Film Festival has rolled around again and, like last year, I'm going to be out of the country for a fair portion of it. This, together with the fact that the day BFI members' booking opened was an insanely busy day at work for me, meant that I only ended up with two tickets. I had my eye on the screening of The Lobster and even got a ticket into my basket at one point, before the BFI server gods passed down their fearsome judgement.

However, I did manage to get a ticket for Queen of Earth, which screened at the lovely Hackney Picturehouse last night, and included a Q&A with director Alex Ross Perry and the two stars, Elisabeth Moss and Katherine Waterston. I'm a big fan of Moss and have had a bit of a thing for co-star Patrick Fugit ever since Almost Famous, and it is perhaps fortunate that I didn't realise until yesterday that Ross Perry's previous film was Listen Up, Philip — possibly my least favourite film of the year so far, with its unlikeable characters and tedious plot.

The characters in Queen of Earth aren't much more sympathetic but I enjoyed the film a lot more. Well, enjoyed isn't really the right word for a deeply unsettling and haunting movie about the twisted and destructive relationship between two childhood best friends, but it is well made and has a stunning central performance from Moss.

The film opens with a long, single-take shot of Catherine (Moss), who is breaking up with her boyfriend who cheated on her soon after the death of her father — a well-known artist and her mentor. After this devastating monologue, we see Catherine, seemingly more composed, heading to the lake house, which belongs to her best friend Ginny (Waterston)'s family.

Catherine needs a holiday and some R&R with someone who knows her and cares about her, but from the start, there is a tension between the two women. Passive-aggressive remarks and snide comments dominate the conversation, and Rich (Fugit), the neighbour, keeps coming over to hang out with Ginny, interrupting Catherine's time alone with her friend. It's hard to imagine the pair ever being emotionally close. These scenes are interspersed with flashbacks to one year earlier when Ginny is suffering from some deep sadness, while Catherine is all happiness and light — she even brings her boyfriend James (Kentucker Audley), which rubs Ginny up the wrong way. It soon becomes clear that they are like a see-saw: the lower one sinks, the more the other takes pleasure in her misfortune.

It's hard to say more without spoiling the film and, in any case, it's really more character-driven than plot-driven, but suffice to say that it is the uneasiest and most unsettling 90 minutes that I have spent at the cinema in a long time, and I suspect that the themes of friendship, loss, bitterness and vengeance will remain with me for some time. It is also beautifully shot — "on real film", Moss explained during the Q&A — and as well as the striking images of the water, sky and trees, it has a grainy, 1970s feel. The chilling, thriller-esque score and the vintage title cards and credits also suggest decades past. (It is never clear when the film is set — there are no mobile phones, only giant cordless landline phones, and no gadgetry.)

During the Q&A, Perry explained that they shot the film in 12 days — they shot every scene in the order it appears in the film, even the flashbacks — and that Moss was involved in the project from the beginning, although they only signed up Waterston a few days before shooting began. There's a long, single-take scene in the middle of the film where Ginny and then Catherine talk about their failed relationships while the camera zooms in and then pans very slowly across their faces. This took a few takes as the first time, they ran out of film one sentence before the end. The composer, Keegan DeWitt, worked on Listen Up, Philip, too and was able to record the score as the film was being shot, which explains why it fits so perfectly and has such a big role in the tension.

"It's a relaxing place," Perry said, of the setting, "but nothing relaxing happens." He also talked about the title of the film, which he says combines images of nature and the elements with the idea of female entitlement — women carrying themselves like they deserve greatness despite what others tell them. This actually made me like him — and the film — less, although the male characters aren't really any more pleasant. In any case, don't let that — or Perry's previous works — put you off going to see Queen of Earth; it really is quite an accomplished film.

Last night also reminded me of what the London Film Festival is all about. Sometimes, it's easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamour of A-list casts and red carpet premieres, but the screening and Q&A at Hackney was much more low-key but felt very intimate; Moss, Waterston and Perry were even hanging around outside the screening and were all very approachable. You wouldn't have got that at the Odeon West End!

NB: I had a great seat but, as a result of only having my iPhone with me and the poor lighting during the Q&A, the photo quality isn't great.

"Mars Will Come To Fear My Botany Powers"

The 2010s have been a great decade for films that capture the sense of adventure, ambition, beauty and wonder of space exploration. Alfonso Cuarón's beautiful and breathtaking Gravity and Christopher Nolan's emotional and visionary Interstellar are two such examples that I particularly enjoyed.

Ridley Scott's The Martian draws on these films and others, from Silent Running to Apollo 13, injecting humour, 1970s pop music and a strong central performance from Matt Damon as Mark Watney, a NASA astronaut left for dead on Mars after an accident during a freak storm separates him from his team who are forced to abort. It turns out that Watney isn't dead after all, but when he wakes up in the middle of the dusty Martian landscape, he realises that he has no way of communicating with his crew or with Houston. This is the least of his worries, however, as he must first make it back to the Hab (base) before his oxygen runs out and then perform surgery on his stomach where part of an aerial has become lodged.

Watney knows that the odds of him surviving for long enough for the next Martian mission to arrive — several years in the future — are slim, but with his inventive and methodological problem-solving skills, even this incredible feat starts to seem reasonable. "I'm going to have to science the shit out of this," he explains to his video diary. One of his biggest challenges is to find a new food supply as the Hab's supplies will only last for a year or two. "Luckily, I'm a botanist," he says, and before too long, he has planted potatoes, fertilised using his own biological waste, and worked out a way to create water by reacting hydrogen and oxygen — no mean feat given NASA's fire-retardant equipment.

Eventually, NASA finds out that Watney is still alive and they are able to work out an extremely rudimentary way of communicating with him using pathfinder equipment from the 1990s. Jeff Daniels' steely-eyed Director of NASA, Chiwetel Ejiofor's Director of the Mars Missions and their crews are left to try to find out a way to get some food supplies to Mars that will last Watney until the next Ares Mission arrives. But will he be able to survive that long?

Scott's visually stunning movie is long, clocking in at 2h20, but it never dragged. The last act is extremely suspenseful and nerve-wracking — like Gravity, it left me literally breathless — but although the earlier parts of the film were less tense, they were also very entertaining. Damon's charisma and the humour and realism of the script (by Drew Goddard, based on Andy Weir's novel) contribute strongly to this. The Martian isn't a comedy, but there are some funny lines — often involving Watney swearing into his video diary or at NASA, or complaining about the his commander (Jessica Chastain)'s 1970s music collection that forms the bulk of the audiovisual repertoire he has been bequeathed. I'm not an ABBA fan, but this film may represent the best use of Waterloo in a cinematic work. I also enjoyed the tracks from David Bowie and Gloria Gaynor and more generally, the soundtrack helped to give the film a more upbeat vibe than many others in the genre.

Although Damon is great, The Martian has a talented, if sometimes under-used, supporting cast. Chastain and Ejiofor are, as always, excellent and on a personal note (as I work in science communication), I enjoyed Kristen Wiig's turn as NASA's Director of Media Relations, who has to advise her bosses to try to avoid total PR disaster.

Ultimately, The Martian manages to tell a highly engaging story about a courageous and tenacious man who will do what it takes to survive in formidable circumstances. But I defy anyone to see the film and not to be proud of all of that humanity has accomplished so far in spaceflight and to be optimistic about what we might yet achieve.

September Favourites

It's now officially autumn, but London is finally getting a bit of Indian summer — or sunshine, at any rate, which is almost as good. My long weekend in Copenhagen and another imminent European getaway have meant that I have tried to cut down on my eating-out and entertainment expenses this month. As such, culcha picks outnumber food and drink in my list of favourites for this month.

1. A Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell.
When I travel, I like to read books about or set in the country I am visiting. Russell, a journalist, and her husband moved to Denmark for a year and this book reveals what it's like to live in Europe's happiest country. There are long winters, huge taxes and plenty of rules, but the welfare system, the snegl (pastries) and the hygge more than make up for it. Russell's writing is sharp, funny and engaging — her book reminded me a lot of Bill Bryson's travel writing.

2. Brunch at No 67
There are plenty of great places for brunch in Peckham, but No 67 remains at or close to the top of the list. You shouldn't have to wait for a table if you arrive soon after 10 am, and as well as the cosy front room and the larger, minimalist back room, there are a fair few tables outdoors. It was beautiful and sunny during my last visit, so we took advantage of the clemency and dined al fresco. There are a lot of great choices on the brunch menu, but I usually find myself choosing between the waffles with bacon and bourbon syrup (£7.75) and the scrambled eggs and bacon on sourdough (£7.75). This time I went for the latter (partly so that I could also have a muffin for 'pudding') and it was the right call. The food is always good and the bacon comes crispy as standard (they have a special grill, apparently). If you want a bit of post-brunch culture, you can drop by the adjacent South London Gallery.

3. Miss You Already
Catherine Hardwicke's film sees Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore star as two lifelong best friends who find their lives diverging rapidly, as Collette's Milly, a successful PR, receives a breast cancer diagnosis, while Barrymore's Jess tries to get pregnant. The story isn't especially novel, but the performances of the two actresses and the chemistry between them elevates the film, and Milly's spiky retorts and (perhaps justifiably) selfish or thoughtless actions keep it from descending in to mawkishness. There are also good supporting performances from Dominic Cooper and Paddy Considine, as Milly's and Jess's husbands, respectively. A lot of the film was shot in Southwark (particularly around Borough and on the river in Rotherhithe) and it was fun to see parts of my borough on the big screen.

4. The Coffee Collective coffee.
I waxed lyrical about this trilogy of cafés and roasteries in my Copenhagen Coffee guide, but since my return from the Danish capital, I have been sampling the beans I brought home with me. I bought the Finca Vista Hermosa beans from Guatemala and, brewed in an Aeropress, the variety works well for this time of year: the coffee has the chocolatey smoothness you would expect from Central America, but with some fruity, citrusy notes to keep it interesting. You can order online, but I'd recommend a trip to Copenhagen instead!

5. How To Get Away with Murder
I have to wait another week before the new season of The Good Wife starts and to whet my appetite, I decided to give this show a go — my curiosity was also piqued by its star, Viola Davis, just winning an Emmy. HTGAWM is a sort of mash-up of The Good Wife, Legally Blonde and either Desperate Housewives or Pretty Little Liars. Davis plays Annalise Keating, a formidable criminal law professor, who selects five students from her class each year to join her firm and help out on her cases. Each week, there is a case-of-the-week — often similar cases or loopholes to The Good Wife but not executed as well. There is also an ongoing investigation into the murder of a female student at the university and, possibly connected with this, regular flash-forwards reveal that the five law students and their professor become involved, to some degree, in another murder.

HTGAWM does feel a little flimsy at times, with rushed sub-plots, forgettable performances from most of the actors playing the students and under-used actors playing Keating's other employees. Davis is wonderful, though, as she plays a complex and often unlikeable, though impressive, character. For all its frothiness, the show is quite addicting: I rattled through the breakneck first half of season one pretty quickly, and although it seemed to lose its way mid-season, things start to pick up again as it rattles on towards the finale.