Back
“In America” tells the story of an Irish family that moves to the United States and tries to make a new, better life, but finds that surviving the Manhattan life is harder than it seems. They find a find an apartment building to live in, with a crumby assortment of people living in, and a ratty room to live in. They do, however, make due with what they have. The dad keeps looking for an acting job, and desperately goes to audition after audition with no luck, while the mother works in an ice cream parlor.
This story sound linear and sounds like any other drama, but what happens is that it becomes more than a drama. It becomes a suspense film with an unexpected turn around every corner. I kept thinking that nothing good was happening, and it begins to get frustrating. You can’t help but feel that this is a real family and want so much for something decent to happen to them because they just deserve it. And that is where the power of the film is.
Jim Sheridan was the co-writer and director of the film and did an absolutely amazing job. He makes this family come to life, and because of this the film is believable and the events that take place make just as big a whole in your heart as it does the characters in the story. It was wonderfully written and surprisingly well directed.
But if you think about it, the film would not have been as successful if it weren’t for the incredible actors. I found Djimon Honsou to be the best actor of the entire cast. He deals, I think, another amazing performance. Honsou is one of those underestimated actors who is great. This is the best of his career so far and it is Oscar-caliber. The film becomes a part of your life for the duration of its time. You feel all the pain, witness all the tragedy, suffer all the losses that this family does, and Sheridan very wisely puts in that tiny speck of hope right when we all need it. It’s like that feeling you get when you have just given a speech or performance in front of a large body of people and you ace it. The feeling you get when a weight is taken off your shoulders.
And in that sense, “In America” becomes something like boot camp where we, the audience, is beaten down until we can’t stand it. And then at the end of the film, we’ve come back from a war as heroes. I give that credit to the Sheridans and their script, which is the most uplifting of the season.
Tragic, emotional, and deeply hopeful, “In America” is a grand film for our times. When half men, half women and drug addicts can walk the streets and be considered part of the norm, our society is screaming for a film like this. ****