Brooklyn (2015)

Just an absolutely lovely film that's both relatable and foreign. A young Irish girl comes to America, as arranged by her older sister, so that she'll have a shot at a future rather than being stuck in the only available role back home: as a small-town shopgirl hoping for a husband.

It’s not easy going at first: she’s lonely and homesick and doesn’t quite fit in. But once she meets the adorable Tony, she starts to find her footing and actually feel a bit at home. Saoirse Ronan made me feel everything -- e.g. when she was reading her first letters from home and crying her heart out with homesickness, I had that big gulpy feeling as though, if I hadn’t been in a theater with dozens of others, I could have easily wailed aloud. What a face.

This is my favorite movie of the year so far. Small and true.

A