In America (2003)

I wanted to but couldn't!

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A true story doesn't always make a good movie, and that is the case for In America.The first part is more than average and rather touching: it shows well the difficulties this broken hearted and penniless family goes through when immigrating to the US.But once you pass the 45 minute mark, the script flounders, struggles to find a second wind, and we are served scenes each one more boring than the other, sometimes with overused clichés of the melodramatic genre.Even if Jim Sheridan is profoundly sincere in his approach and the cast is convincing, the young ones on top, it is not enough to make this autobiographical chronicle a quality feature.

In America stars Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine as two young Irish parents who have lost their only son. Trying to run away from their grief, they move to a junkie-infested apartment building in New York City with their two daughters, Christy and Ariel. Though they struggle with meager jobs and suffocatingly hot weather, a friendship with an artist in an apartment below them becomes a catalyst that allows them to rebuild their family. The semi-autobiographical screenplay by director Jim Sheridan and his daughters Naomi and Kirsten as they focus on an immigrant Irish family's efforts to survive in New York City, as seen through the eyes of the elder daughter.Sarah Bolger,Emma Bolger and Djimon Hounsou co-star to play key supporting roles.The film is splendidly acted throughout.It's Morton who anchors the movie. Her every emotion seems to glow from her skin. The commitment of the actors keeps the movie compelling.This immigration drama is simple and modest to a fault but it's sporadically touching and easily the most emotionally satisfying.

In America is a heart felt love letter to America written by the director Jim Sheridan and his daughters Naomi and Kirsten and what a beautiful story it is. A man and wife travel to the United States with their two little girls played by real life sisters Emma and Sarah Bolger. Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton are the mother & father. The four actors, most especially the kids, provide some of the best performances I have ever seen. Mr. Sheridan's first film was My Left Foot with Daniel Day Lewis. The man knows how to direct and get the most out of his cast. The grittiness of New York City in the summer heat is captured brilliantly and the great melting pot which is the big apple is portrayed perfectly. I live in a suburb north of NY City, so I've had the opportunity to visit from time to time and the movie captures the soul of NY as well as any movie I've seen. Sheridan has stated that the story is based on his life and experiences arriving here with little money and few prospects.The family struggles to survive and like many previous generations from around the world they learn to adapt there surroundings very quickly. I will not spoil this with to many details, I will just recommend this to anyone looking for something worthwhile.

Ugh. The love of this film totally escapes me.Jim Sheridan's story about Irish immigrants struggling with their new life in America is clearly heartfelt, but it's also sappy and overbearingly sentimental. Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton play a father and mother of two little girls who have left what to all appearances was a prosperous life in Ireland to escape the memories of another child's death. But the film never successfully establishes why they'd rather scrape together an existence in America than simply move to a different home/city in their native country, or to the UK, or to Canada. I was supposed to feel bad about how cold and uncaring the U.S. appeared to these people, but I didn't, because all of their decisions were completely voluntary and this isn't the 1890s.Grade: C-