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IN
AMERICA Rating:  (out of 5 stars)Director: Jim Sheridan Producers: Jim Sheridan, Arthur Lappin Writers: Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan Director of Photography: Declan Quinn Cast: Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
 Click on the photo to buy merchandise from In America. |
Jim Sheridan's (My Left Foot, In The Name of the Father) In America is a film that, despite its sincerity and passion, didn't really have much of an impact on me. Based partially on Sheridan's experiences as an Irish immigrant in New York City, the movie has the requisite amount of emotional highs and lows, and while the specific story beats aren't entirely predictable, there's nothing too surprising about the characters' respective plights. The road this film travels on is a very familiar one -- in the end, there's little to make it stand out from any number of "adult dramas."
In search of a better life in the early '80s, and perhaps hoping a new setting will help them recover from the loss of their son, Johnny (Paddy Considine) and Sarah (Samantha Morton) move to New York from Ireland with their two young daughters, Christy (Sarah Bolger) and Ariel (Emma Bolger). Having little money to their name, the family takes up residence in a run-down Hell's Kitchen apartment located in a building festering with drug dealers and various other dodgy types.
Paddy, an aspiring actor, drives a taxi by night and attempts to land auditions by day, Sarah gets a job at an ice cream parlor, and the girls go to public school and gradually learn more about the American way of life. On their first Halloween in the country, Christy and Ariel go trick or treating in their apartment building and knock on the door of a mysterious artist named Mateo (Djimon Hounsou), who the girls have dubbed "the screaming man." This, at first, intimidating figure quickly befriends the family, and the two entities support each other during especially trying times for both: Sarah becomes pregnant and is determined to deliver the child although it means a great risk to her health, and Mateo, a victim of an unnamed disease (presumably AIDS), is dying.
As with the other Sheridan films I've seen, I'm left appreciating and enjoying certain aspects of the work, but not completely moved by it. The director aspires to tell an optomistic coming-of-age tale peppered with doses of heartbreak along the way, but In America, to its credit, never exposes the naked vulnerability that would elicit cheap tears, however, it also refrains from tackling the inherent darker aspects with a sufficient amount of depth. It's caught between mainstream and arthouse sensibilities, and the result is a film that lacks a strong sense of identity.
Mateo is introduced into the story wisely, as we see the man in isolated moments of torment before he meets Christy and Ariel, but the subsequent friendship he develops with the family is written purely in shorthand. His rage at the outside world seems to be neutralized the moment he lays eyes on the children, and thus the character comes across a bit flat, as does his surprisingly obstacle-free relationship with the family. Story wise, this is the film's biggest failing.
There are captivating moments along the way, which hint at the potential this movie never lives up to. An early scene where Johnny almost blows all of the family's money trying to win Ariel an E.T. doll at a carnival especially provides the tender balance between suffering and hope that mainly eludes the movie the rest of the way. Johnny and Sarah's despair, stemming from the death of their child in Ireland, and its affect on the family, is never integrated smoothly enough to buy the melodramatic inclinations.
The Bolger sisters (and youngest Emma has my vote for most adorable person on the planet) aren't just used as token cute-kids by Sheridan -- he actually demands something from their roles, and the young actors perform remarkably. On the other hand, the bombastic Paddy Considine regrettably strangles Johnny to the point where it's difficult to see him as a real human being.
In America contains
touching moments and is an engaging enough tale, but its inability
to find a consistent emotional tone hampers the film from achieving
its desired effect.
(A Fox Searchlight release. Opens in New York and Los Angeles
on November 26, 2003. Expands to more cities at later dates.)
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