In America

About In America

In America is a 2002 Irish drama film directed by Jim Sheridan. The semi-autobiographical screenplay by Sheridan and his daughters Naomi and Kirsten focuses on an immigrant Irish family's efforts to survive in New York City, as seen through the eyes of the elder daughter.

Johnny and Sarah and their daughters Christy and Ariel enter the United States on a tourist visa via Canada, where Johnny was working as an actor. They settle in a rundown Hell's Kitchen tenement occupied by drug addicts, transvestites, and a reclusive Nigerian artist/photographer named Mateo. Hanging over the family is the tragic death of their young son Frankie, who died from a brain tumor induced by a fall down a flight of stairs. The once-devout Roman Catholic Johnny has renounced God and lost any ability to feel true emotions, which has affected his relationship with his family. Christy believes she has been granted three wishes by her dead brother.

Sarah gets a job in the local ice cream parlor to support the family while Johnny auditions for any role for which he is suited, with no success. Despite their poverty, the initial joy of being in America and the closeness of the family gives them the energy to make the most of what they have, and Christy chronicles the events of their life with a cherished camcorder. But as money runs low and the city's temperatures soar, tensions between Johnny and Sarah begin to rise with them. Not helping their financial and emotional strain is the discovery Sarah is pregnant. Johnny finds work as a cab driver to augment their income and help pay for the girls' Catholic school tuition.