A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
There are the people who deride It's a Wonderful Life for being too sentimental. And it confuses me every time I hear it. The whole bells and wings line is childish fantasy, but for the most part, it's a dark film in which the bad guy wins.
Now if someone claimed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is too sentimental, that I could understand. It wears it's heart on it's sleeve, there are too many plot points you can see a mile away and it is a pretty common coming of age story. But it hit me right between the eyes.
First thing I noticed was the art direction, especially in street scenes. Everyone is bustling, moving about, but each movement makes sense and no one runs into each other. The twenty to thirty people milling about are choreographed carefully, to display an ordered business, as if it were a musical.
Although each character is a stereotype (cheerful, drunk Irishman father; hard-working mother attempting to overcome poverty; slut aunt-- well, perhaps that is less a stereotype in the 1940s-- irritating younger brother), yet I believed them all. Perhaps that's my gullibility, or perhaps it's the casting... or perhaps it's because the writers so carefully placed a conflict within each main character and they struggled with themselves throughout the film.
So when the inevitable tragedies and hook ups happen, I was ready to cry and laugh and do all that the film wanted me to do. I was joyfully manipulated into emotional resonance. I love that feeling.
4/5
Best supporting actress, best supporting actor, best adapted screenplay, best art direction, best film.