In America (2002)

An Irish immigrant family adjusts to life in the United States.

Director:

Jim Sheridan

Writers:

Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan,

Stars:

Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Sarah Bolger

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 22 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paddy Considine	...	Johnny
Samantha Morton	...	Sarah
Sarah Bolger	...	Christy
Emma Bolger	...	Ariel
Neal Jones	...	Immigration Officer #1
Randall Carlton	...	Immigration Officer #2
Ciaran Cronin	...	Frankie
Djimon Hounsou	...	Mateo
Juan Carlos Hernández	...	Papo (as Juan Hernandez)
Nye Heron	...	Blind Man
Jason Salkey	...	Tony
Rene Millan	...	Steve
Sara James	...	Papo's Girlfriend
Bob Gallico	...	Theatre Director
Jason Killalee	...	Assistant Theatre Director

Storyline

Following the tragic death of their two-year-old son Frankie, Irish couple Johnny and Sarah Sullivan and their remaining two offspring, 10 year old Christy Sullivan and 5 year old Ariel Sullivan, emigrate illegally to the United States via Canada with little in their pockets. Their final destination is Manhattan where Johnny hopes to work as a stage actor. They move into a unit in a run town tenement housed primarily with drug addicts, transvestites and one tenant coined "the man who screams". They do whatever they can to eke out a supportive family environment in this difficult situation, the support which ultimately extends to those around them, most specifically "the screamer" who turns out to be an African-American artist named Mateo with AIDS. But the memory of Frankie hangs over the family in good and bad ways, especially as Sarah learns she's pregnant. Christy, who records their life's goings-on with her beloved camcorder, believes that the angel of Frankie has granted her ...

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Plot Keywords:

irish | actor | new york | neighbor | irish immigrant | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality, drug references, brief violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Fox [br] Fox Searchlight [us]

Country:

Ireland UK

Language:

English Spanish Irish

Release Date:

31 October 2003 (Ireland)

Also Known As:

Tierra de sueños

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios, Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$205,229 (USA) (28 November 2003)

Gross:

$15,539,266 (USA) (4 June 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hell's Kitchen Films, East of Harlem (UK) Ltd., Irish Film Industry, Government of Ireland

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ewan McGregor and Kate Winslet were originally approach to play Johnny and Sarah at the film's early stages of production when it was entitled "East of Harlem".

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Goofs

The camcorder would not be able to play back video in slow motion, as we see in the early frisbee scene. The shot was clearly made on film, overcranked, and then transferred to video to display on the LCD screen.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Christy: [voiceover] There's some things you should wish for and some things you shouldn't. That's what my little brother Frankie told me. He told me I only had three wishes, and I looked into his eyes, and I don't know why I believed him.

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Crazy Credits

Special thanks to ... staff and patients at Grangegorman, Dublin, ... residents of Parnell Street, Dublin ...

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Connections

References RoboCop (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Quando m'en vo'soletta"
(1896)
from "La Boheme"
Written by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala
Soprano Tatiana Menotti
Conducted by Umberto Berrettoni
Licensed courtesy of HNH International Ltd.

User Reviews

Go to see it and to bring your children and/or your grandchildren with you, no matter how young they are!

I saw Jim Sheridan's great New York movie in Ireland on the evening of Saturday November 1. Halloween was already over, All Saints Day was drawing to a close and I knew that Sunday November 2 was going to be All Souls Day.

The film is set in New York where an family from Ireland, father, mother and two young girls, move into an apartment block full of drug pushers and transvestites and where they can hear the intermittent screaming of a man.

The family have lost a little boy, Frankie, who has died of a brain tumor and the lives of the four survivors are wrapped in an enduring sorrow. On Halloween the girls make friends with the screaming man, a black man called Mateo who gets invited to 'The Halloween Party'.

The girls go out to a local cafe and the parents enjoy themselves in sex.

Later they find out that there is a child on the way...

Enough of that. To go on will only spoil the unraveling of a story that has some of the darkness and some of the enchantment and some of the sadness and the challenge of death that marks the three days of Halloween, All Saints and All Souls.

Since losing Frankie, his parents, even though they send the girls to a local Catholic school,seem to have lost their faith in God. However, as the film draws to its superb close, although God makes no obvious comeback, it is clear that St. Paul's great trio of virtues - faith, hope and love - have triumphed as a deeply wounded family finds healing as they celebrate the homecoming of their little baby girl. Her name? Sarah Mateo Sullivan.

This is a great film about family life. Yes, there is one intense lovemaking scene but there is nothing in this film for the voyeur. I guess that is why it is rated 12PG by the wise Irish censors who obviously want you to go to see it and to bring your children and / or your grandchildren with you, no matter how young they are!