Brooklyn (12A)

EILIS Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) is a shrinking violet in Enniscorthy. She lives with her mother and older sister Rose, and earns a meagre crust - and withering rebukes - at the local shop run by the imperious Miss Kelly.

Thanks to Rose, Eilis secures a one-way ticket to a brighter future in New York. Holy man Fr Flood (Jim Broadbent) places Eilis at a boarding house for single girls run by Mrs Kehoe (Julie Walters), who clucks over the lodgers.

Eilis' homesickness gradually fades and she excels as a salesgirl at a department store under stylish floor manager Miss Fortini (Jessica Pare). She also sparks a tender romance with a handsome plumber called Tony (Emory Cohen).

Painfully innocent to courtship rituals, Eilis turns to the other girls at the boarding house and they advise her to carefully choose her bathing costume for an impending trip to Coney Island beach.

The lovebirds marry in secret, but when Eilis returns home to Enniscorthy, local boy Jim Farrell (Domhnall Gleeson) unexpectedly turns her head and makes her hanker for small-town life. Brooklyn is a classic, old-fashioned love triangle, which combines elegant storytelling, strong performances and swoonsome visuals.