Director Jim Sheridan takes on New York.

Admittedly, choosing one defining image from In America to appeal to the widest variety of people is not easy. But that doesn’t excuse the lamest of lame posters they’ve settled with. Whoever came up with the idea of using a little girl with fairy wings, and a quote from The Daily Mail about how damn nice the film is, better get out of the marketing business right now. In America is a brilliant film. The most instinctively touching, heartstring-tugging film this year, and it’s a tragedy that about 376 people will go and watch it.

Jim Sheridan was 17 when his little brother died. It’s taken till now (he’s 54) for him to finally move on by making his most personal film yet, loosely based on his brother’s death, as well as his young family’s emigration from Dublin to New York. Paddy Considine plays Johnny, who’s based partly on Jim and partly on Jim’s dad. Johnny is married to Sarah (Samantha Morton), and together they attempt to come to terms with the premature death of their son (tumour) while living in a Hell’s Kitchen slum.

It’s an unashamedly emotional film with a cast so good you come out of the cinema two hours later feeling like you’ve lived with them for a year. When it’s happy, it’s joyous. When it’s miserable, it’s depressing. When it’s sad, you’ll cry buckets (honestly, take a snorkel).

Anyway, please go and see it. It will remind you of what life’s all about, in case you’ve forgotten. And let me just tell you that Samantha Morton IS a genius, a beautiful genius. A better actor than De Niro and Brando, and she makes me want to bawl whenever she’s on screen, for no good reason. Probably love. (9/10)

Alex Godfrey (audio interview by Skye Sherwin) 31 October 03

In America, on national release 31 October 03.

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