IN AMERICA
Directed by: Jim Sheridan.
Produced by: Jim Sheridan & Arthur Lappin.
Written by: Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan & Kirsten Sheridan.
Director of Photography: Declan Quinn.
Edited by: Naomi Geraghty.
Music by: Gavin Friday & Maurice Seezer.
Released by: Fox Searchlight.
Country of Origin: UK/Ireland. 103 min. Rated: PG-13.
With: Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Sarah Bolger, & Emma Bolger.
DVD Features: Commentary with director Jim Sheridan. Making-of featurette. Deleted scenes with optional commentary with director Sheridan.

Two child actors provide the strongest sense of realty in a disjointed tearjerker, where there’s a disconnect between what is said and what is shown. Narrated by eldest daughter Christy (Sarah Bolger) as she also videotapes the film, In America begins robustly as an Irish family comes to America, lying to immigration officers that they are only on holiday. They wonder at the bright lights of present-day Times Square, but the rest of New York City is stuck in the 1980s. They settle down in a drug-infested, rundown, but large, apartment. Director/writer Sheridan sets the right tone depicting the day to day struggles of living in the city - from the father, Johnny (Considine), dragging an air conditioner through the streets and struggling with it up the stairs to the cashier that demands exact change. After the first half-hour, it’s relatively smooth sailing for the family. The mother, Sarah (Morton), gets a job in an ice cream parlor, Johnny spends his days auditioning and driving taxis by night, and their children, Ariel and Christy, attend Catholic school. But haunting everyone is a death in the family. While playing with his daughters, Johnny forgets himself, and calls out for his dead son. He’s stunned. His wife tells him that his inability to feel is holding him back as an actor. But he’s oblivious feeling many emotions - guilt and anger to name two. Ariel (Emma Bolger) sees something that the audience doesn’t when she later recoils from Johnny, crying out that she wants her old dad back. And Christy reminds her dad that she has been carrying the family on her back, yet she’s mostly an observer, and the family seems happily at home in their new environment. Meanwhile, the family is further transformed when Sarah decides to go through a risky pregnancy. At the end, the lesson of letting go of the past is easily learned. Throughout, sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger, as the daughters, are captivating. They dispel the recurring feeling of disbelief, causing a skeptical and resisting viewer to give in to the sentiment. Kent Turner
November 22, 2003

DVD Extras: Sheridan explains the film in terms of his own experience; it is indeed based on his life and family after moving to America. Most of the time, he hadn't plan such poignant moments, but just captured them when they happened, due to the children’s ability to improvise with little instruction. The short making-of featurette goes into detail about the actors, their take on the film and their characters. The deleted scenes are very revealing and include a slightly different ending to the film, yet are more about character development than story progression. Lisette Johnson
June 13, 2004