In America

Jim Sheridan’s semi-autobiographical search for both physical and spiritual sanctuary is one of the most involving, vividly executed and satisfying films of the year. The story, which he co-wrote with his two daughters, chronicles the struggles of an Irish family that moves into the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan with more emotional baggage in tow than material possessions. The father (Paddy Considine) and mother (Samantha Morton) are reeling from the death of their young son. They scrape together a meager living and attempt to resuscitate the heart and soul of a wounded marriage as they both provide for and are uplifted by the innocence and resilience of two daughters (sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger). The excellent cast of this full-blooded immigrant’s tale of love, loss, hope and the domino effect of affection includes a heart-throttling performance by Amistad’s Djimon Hounsou as a reclusive painter known as “the man who screams.”