In America

From the director of “My Left Foot” and “In the name of the Father” comes a moving portrait of an Irish immigrant family trying to establish a new life in the US after a devastating tragedy. The father (Paddy Considine) is a struggling actor who ends up driving a taxi at night to make a living while the mother (Samantha Morton) raises their two adorable girls (played by real life sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger) while working at a nearby ice-cream parlour. The eldest of the two girls uses her home video camera as a way to document their current life and deal with the past - much of the strength and delight of the film comes from the roles of the children. Set in New York City in a dilapidated apartment building they share with drug dealers, pimps and other poor families, the girls be-friend a neighbour Mateo (Djimon Hounsou) who provides the family with a new outlook and helps them face their grief, while he deals with his own mortality. The loosely autobiographical script is based on Jim Sheridan’s life and was co-written with his two daughters Naomi and Kirsten Sherdian. Nominated for three Academy Awards in 2003.