Julie Walters – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: We have waited for this movie to come in the OTT for some time.

Vampire Bat: And it is on Amazon Prime Video, which is for the best.

Vampire Owl: Well, we all needed our Amazon Prime deliveries.

Vampire Bat: There is no Amazon delivery in Dracula castle.

Vampire Owl: Well, we can always pick them up from the borders of the realm.

Vampire Bat: What we need are very much here, and at best quality.

Vampire Owl: The vampire apprentices are really working hard, aren’t they?

Vampire Bat: We have shifted to magic for doing the work for us.

Vampire Owl: Dr. Frankenstein had invented enough to help with that.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frankenstein’s pseudo-science actually helps and saves nobody. Frank no longer has enough access to our work.

[Gets a vegetable samosa and three cups of Kodaikanal tea].

What is the movie about? :: Wilhelmina Calloway a.k.a. Millie (Sydney Sweeney) is on parole after committing a murder in self-defence. It is then that she is hired by Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) as a live-in maid, much to her surprise as her criminal records did not stop her from being hired for such a big job after so many rejections. The home also has her daughter Cecelia Winchester (Indiana Elle) and husband Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar) who are surprised to see her around there, but Nina is determined that she should have a housemaid as she cannot manage household work even though Enzo Accardi (Michele Morrone) takes care of the work outside. Mille is given an attic bedroom that can be locked from the outside, much to her surprise, and she tries to get a key for the same. But she is so desperate to keep her job as it is a term of her parole; due the same, she just goes on with the process despite the problems that come in her way, and feels that there is something wrong with Nina and the family seems to be slowly falling apart.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Mille further learns that in the past, Nina was locked in a mental hospital for a period of nine months for trying to drown Cece in a bath tub under the effect of drugs and for has tried attempting suicide by overdose. Nina is considered mentally unstable by different people, and some of them seems to keep a distance from her too. Millie also finds her to be very angry towards her, and breaks things while keeping on shouting. It could also be seen that Nina says one thing to her and forgets the same later, keeping on saying that Millie decided to do that thing against her instructions. The neighbours consider her to be a dangerous woman, without a family, and has attached herself to her husband who is rich, handsome, and sweet to everyone around. Andrew’s mother Evelyn Winchester (Elizabeth Perkins) is also that high society lady whom everyone revered, and keeps telling the family about a few things which they should always follow without fail.

And what more is to happen around here as a crisis seems to be on the way? :: A similar case occurs as Millie books Broadway musical tickets and a hotel for the Winchesters in one of the richest areas, but later, Nina just denies having given her those instructions, and tells her that she will take the money out of her salary as the tickets are not refundable. But when Nina was talking her daughter to the ballet camp, Andrew tries to cheer Millie up by secretly taking her to the show, and after enjoying dinner together, they check into the hotel. Millie receives a large number of angry texts from Nina, but Andrew, and the two start and intimate relationship in the hotel bedroom. Then, when they return home, and Millie realizes that Nina has found out that she spent ten years in prison for murder. Nina uses this knowledge to make sure that police arrest her on stealing their car, after reporting a stolen car. But this would not be the end of it, as her plans might be more sinister, and the family secrets would mean more trouble. Can Millie survive this?

The defence of The Housemaid :: The movie maintains a certain level, with nice red herrings and the suspense always ready to come out, with thrills going on strong – the performances of the leading actresses are also to be noted, as Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried blends into the situation really well. Sydney seems to be very close to becoming the next scream queen in a horror movie, and we have seen her capability with thrillers earlier itself, through The Voyeurs. Amanda had a more complicated role, and she maintains a certain amount of skill to go through the transformation of the character. Brandon Sklenar also joins well here. The tension is nicely built, as the viewer gets curious with secrets to be revealed, mind games and twists which might not be the kind that one can predict with ease. There is the feeling that we are watching the kind of thrillers which we had during much earlier times. The dramatic side also works and entertainment is guaranteed, with most of the action set in a big and isolated house which is set far away from the city.

The claws of flaw :: The movie’s ending seemed to be too quick and forced. After that, there is another scene which feels like not relevant at all, as Sydney Sweeney’s character was surely not fit to that situation, and it is not a kind of job that one could take when on the list of police; strange that some fine endings feel the need to be made further complicated by an additional scene – even if it was created to bring hope for a sequel which also would not fit in. The predictability also comes in after the grand twist, and after that, the situation feels just going on and on, and nothing more. There was also the slowing down in between, and seemingly an attempt to divert the movie a little too much. The length of the movie is surely a little too much, as sometimes, time is just lost in the dialogues. With the movie becoming too much filmy, we can also see that the realistic side, despite being present, sometimes losses its charm. The flashback and the explanations are also too long, and the main character, without any prior knowledge of the predicament, seems to guess and thus understand everything with relative ease.

How it finishes :: This particular movie had successfully become more than what is seen on the outside, and we know that movies like this one and Deep Water, as well as Gone Girl, strikes because they have something more than what is seen on the surface. Compared to those titles, this one also ultimately stands as a highly watchable but not the best psychological thriller that leans more towards providing the old-style entertainment rather than focusing on the much-needed depth. Powered by the performances led by Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney, the movie could create an engaging atmosphere having tension, secrets and dramatic twists. It chooses the commercial side instead of the intellectual, and manages to work well in the same. It still relies on familiar tropes, some predictability and moments of too much talking about the past to reduce the overall impact. But you are sure to enjoy this one because the movie is made in a way that the appeal to the audience would be more, and catering towards the regular thriller fun side is here to be taken home, even if it is from Amazon Prime Video.

Release date: 19th December 2025
Running time: 131 minutes
Directed by: Paul Feig
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Nicholas Galitzine, Julie Walters, Alex Wolff

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl :: Let me see this. Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay; some big nominations right there.

Vampire Bat :: I told you that this is the right movie to be watched.

Vampire Owl :: Based on Brooklyn by Colm Toibin; so the novel is also there to read.

Vampire Bat :: But the last time you read a novel was when global warming hadn’t even started.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but I make exceptions, like with the Lich Queen.

Vampire Bat :: That was when she wrote the “poem of undead death” and you had to read it or be bitten by animated corpses which were worse than zombies.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but that still counts as reading.

Vampire Bat :: Saoirse Ronan is your favourite from Byzantium too; lets not forget that.

Vampire Owl :: Things are becoming clearer now…

Vampire Bat :: And City of Ember as well as Atonement which goes further back. Enough reasons there!

[Gets three cups of tea with jackfruit chips].

What is it about? :: In the 1950s, Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) lives with her sister and mother in a small town called Enniscorthy, along the South East coast of Ireland. As she is unable to find good work, her sister Rose (Fiona Glascott) writes to Father Flood (Jim Broadbent) in Brooklyn who arranges her travel to the United States of America in hope for a better tomorrow for her. Suffering from from seasickness and then homesickness, she has a troubled road to the new city far away. Despite the problems that she faces, there she joins the bookkeeping classes and also comes across Anthony Fiorello (Emory Cohen) whom she meets at a dance, and falls in love. But the sudden death of her sister will call her back to Ireland. The question remains about what she will choose after that incident – Enniscorthy or Brooklyn?

So what happens next? :: With her mother alone and hoping for someone to be there with her, Ellis, who is now Ellis Fiorello after getting married in Brooklyn, will choose not to reveal the news about her marriage to anyone and remain in Ireland. There she will meet again with her old friend Nancy (Eileen O’Higgins) whose wedding she hope to attend by extending her stay there, and she also meets another man, Jim Farrell (Domhnall Gleeson) again. She also manages to find work as an accountant where her sister used to work, and the choice becomes a lot more difficult. Can her love for the man whom she met at her worst times turned into the best make sure that she will go back to Brooklyn, or is it the newly found comfort back at home that works better for her heart and brain? Whatever it is, Ellis will have to make the choice.

The defence of Brooklyn :: There are not many love stories that are so smooth, and so effective, even at such slow pace. You will feel the beauty of the world that we see in this movie, visually for sure, and also otherwise. There has been the lack of good romantic movies in the recent past, as the degradation has always created more and more movies full booze and sex, and no real love. So, it is great to have a movie like this, in which you can feel the love, and enjoy the top level performances from the leading cast. The emotions are effective as well as beautiful here, and as we are taken to that certain time period, we will feel the need to be there too, with the people, the buildings and the nature itself; and there is a certain amount of happiness that the movie that leaves us with.

Positives and negatives :: Brooklyn might feel kind of slow, which can make it seem to be a little bit too long for the interests of some people. It is the old-fashioned love that reflects the nature of the age during which it is happening. It is a fine level of feel-good that we have here, and the fairy-tale love story that everyone would wish for, with all its simplicity. Saoirse Ronan makes that kind of impact, that we will fall in love with the life of this particular Irish girl. In the end, we are left with the much needed idea for the age, that true love succeeds, and returns where it deserves to be. Brooklyn surely has a huge heart, and its soul is at the right place; it is also smart and makes its point perfectly. It should be why an old-fashioned movie gets itself on top, facing all those movies which might seem ahead of it when we look at them. Brooklyn, without doubt deserves all the appreciation that it has earned.

Performers of the soul :: Saoirse Ronan has been an amazing actress, and right from her first few movies years ago, she has never failed to create an impression, and Brooklyn is no different. I first noticed her in City of Ember, and Byzantium happens to be my favourite movie featuring her. From the beginning to the end, it is her show that is going on here, going through the changes on her character which such perfection. She makes things feel so real, whether it is about the sadness, the romance or that feeling of happiness – all that twinkles in her eyes. It is into her world that we enters, and leave with bliss! I have felt that this one goes deep, and wished that she had won an Academy Award for this one. Meanwhile, Emory Cohen plays his role with no trouble, as the character becomes one memorable one; Domhnall Gleeson nicely joins in and makes the point.

How it finishes :: Brooklyn takes that beautiful message of true love to another level, as it remains sweet and cute throughout its run. It talks about why it matters to be with the person whom you have always loved no matter what comfort the other things can provide you with. In a new world in which people only look for one’s job, house, money and family name to get married, the movies that follow the old style of love become a lot relevant. These days, whether it is love marriage or arranged marriage, people have been too much focused on money, and living through such an age of self-proclaimed ancient, rich aristocratic people and families, we need movies like Brooklyn – for true love should be what the poets have written about, and not what these sex-romantic-comedies define for the new generation.

Release date: 4th November 2015
Running time: 112 minutes
Directed by: John Crowley
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Bríd Brennan, Jenn Murray, Fiona Glascott, Jessica Paré, Eileen O’Higgins, Emily Bett Rickards, Eve Macklin, Nora-Jane Noone, Michael Zegen, Paulino Nunes, James DiGiacomo, Christian de la Cortina, Ellen David, Eva Birthistle