Saoirse Ronan’s revelatory performance in Brooklyn, as an Irish immigrant in 1950s New York whose journey is emotional as well as geographic, evokes the style and quality of great actresses from an earlier era. With her mixture of elegance and emotional expressivity, and the ability to convey personal transformation, Ronan’s Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Eilis Lacey can justly be compared to such unforgettable performances as Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina and Meryl Streep in Out of Africa. As film critic David Thomson once wrote: “the human face changing its mind is about as special a thing as you can see.”