Original and emotionally powerful

"In America" has its heavy-handed moments, as most Sheridan movies do, but this labor of love transcends those moments by also giving us an incredibly moving story, superb performances and -=- POSSIBLE SPOILER --=- a genuinely startling and stirring scene of catharsis at the end.

Samantha Morton was nominated for Best Actress for her performance, and while she was great (as she always is), I have to say that if anyone was nominated for this film it should have been young Sarah Bolger, whose character narrates the film and guilelessly provides its emotional anchor. There's a scene where she sings "Desperado", which she performs with such purity and lack of theatricality that it's downright revelatory, and of course there's the scene that everyone seems to disagree about, where she tells her father, "Don't little-girl ME" ~ in the hands of a less-gifted actor, this scene would not have carried the depth of truth that it does, but in Sarah's hands it cuts through to the core.