Tony fears Eilis won't come back to him once she lands back in Ireland, because “home is home.” But, she proves him wrong, and the adage “home is where the heart is” right, in “Brooklyn,” now playing at The Harbor Theatre.

So, yes, this film is about relationships, starting over, courage; it's a story that conveys what it feels like to be a 'stranger in a strange land,' and how you feel as though the tears falling from feelings of homesickness will choke you. It's also about finding love where and when you least expect it and how the power of love can transform your life.

This sounds like a great date movie because it is. The lovely and talented Saoirse Ronan as stars as Irish immigrant Eilis (Eh-lish) Lacey and Emory Cohen plays her love interest – an Italian boy no less! - Tony Fiorello whom she meets at an Irish dance.

“Don't they have Italian dances?” Eilis asks Tony. “Yeah, but they behave like Italians … all hands. (smiles) I just like Irish girls,” Tony says.

The chemistry between these two actors is terrific - and they are gorgeous together.

Eilis comes to the States thanks to her older sister Rose who is friends with Father Flood at a Catholic church in Brooklyn. The Father pays Eilis' boat fare, sets her up with a job at a chi-chi (for the 1950s) and a room at a boarding house for girls – Irish girls of course. Mrs. Kehoe (Julia Walters) is a no-nonsense, but warm (not in a fuzzy way) “house mother” who tries to keep her five young ladies out of harm's way.

Eilis is so homesick she can barely smile at work. The letters from home written by Rose always lead to tears that she usually keeps at bay during work hours. One day she jut can't and almost starts crying on the job. Her boss calls Father Flood. The good Father decides he is going to pay for Eilis' first semester at Brooklyn College to attend classes three nights a week. Eilis wants to follow in her sister's footsteps and studies bookkeeping.

College helps a bit with her blues, but it isn't until she attends the Irish dance that things really start looking up. Eilis is left on the dance floor by a partner who spies one of her housemates. Tony is leaning against a wall, watching, with a slight smile on his face. They make eye contact and … it's on.

A most memorable scene takes place at the Catholic church on Christmas Day. Eilis has agreed to help serve dinner to the Irishmen who haven't anywhere to go, or a holiday meal to eat. The year prior, Father Flood says, they served 100 adding that these are the men who built the bridges and tunnels

The men, in their 40s-70s, file in and take a seat at one of the long tables. There is Irish music playing and soon, much merriment -between the food, drink and music. Father Flood asks Frankie Doran  (Iarla Ó Lionáird) to sing. He stands and proceeds to sing in Irish Gaelic, acappella, a haunting Irish folk song “Casadh an tSugain,” which brings tears to Eilis' eyes. The men at the tables listen, heads bent slightly downward, thinking of a woman they once loved, thinking of their home country left many decades ago … (A Youtube audio clip of the song accompanies the web version of this review.)

The dinner at Tony's parent's house is charming – and Tony's eight-year-old brother really livens things up starting with his informing Eilis that they “don't like Irish people.”

Not long after Tony declares his love for her, Father Flood and her boss come to get her while she is “on the floor” at the store – and judging by their expressions they don't come bearing good news.

Eilis is told that her beloved sister has died. She must return home - for her mother's sake. She will miss the funeral, but her mother is alone now and needs her youngest daughter.

She wrestles with the idea of leaving Tony, of her life in Brooklyn. This brings us back to where this review started. When Eilis arrives back in Ireland, unexpected complications and opportunities arise.

The cinematography by Yves Belanger is gorgeous - from the streets and coastline of Enniscorthy, a small town in southeastern Ireland, to the streets of Brooklyn and Coney Island; to the close ups of the characters in this film.

The film, written by Nick Hornby, is based on Colm Tolbin’s award winning 2009 novel of the same name.

Ronan was nominated for her own award -  an Oscar for her role as Eilis– and rightly so. Bleedin' deadly she is.

So, make a movie date with your best girl or guy and see “Brooklyn” at The Harbor Theatre. Screen times are 7 p.m. Friday, March 18, Saturday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 23; Sunday, March 20 at 2 p.m.