“Brooklyn” has a glow about it, as if it knows that it is far superior to any Nicholas Sparks film adaptation, despite being in the same genre and narrative vein.

Lead actor Saoirse Ronan is directly responsible for this glow in her portrayal of Eilis Lacey, a bright, determined and emotionally alive young Irish immigrant who travels to New York in hopes of finding a better life. Ronan’s performance is so fully realized here, that I wonder if she was acting at all or if the character of Eilis just happened to perfectly match her personality.

Some of “Brooklyn’s” best moments come when Eilis sits around the dinner table in her New York boarding home with the rest of her housemates. She is made fun of by these young ladies for being different but slowly begins to find her way as she acclimates to the hustle and bustle of the city and grows comfortable with her new-found independence.

At its core, “Brooklyn” is old-fashioned entertainment: it is a story of young budding romance and the struggle of finding one’s identity and place in the world. There is also the keen pain of death present here and the all too familiar struggle between loyalty to family and loyalty to one’s own dreams and ambitions.

Where the film manages to break out of its familiar genre mold is with the complexity of Eilis. I can’t remember the last time I watched a film and have been so enchanted by the protagonist only to strongly question the validity of her choices and ethics moments later. Eilis is torn between two worlds, with people on both sides of the Atlantic intimately involved in her life. Watching her struggle to identify where her loyalties lie is both frustrating and at times heartbreaking. Eilis realizes that to live the life she feels destined for she will have to abandon the people closest to her.

Despite its gloss and rose-colored scenes of romance, “Brooklyn” is primarily focused on the pains of growing up. The film wrestles with themes of regret, trust and the importance of family. Eilis manages to accept her place in the world and the pain and sacrifices she has made to get her to where she ends up by the film’s end. It hasn’t been an easy journey, but the end is filled with hope at the many life adventures to come.