STAGE director and playwright Jim Sheridan has forged an incredibly successful career in film with his heart-warming and provocative snapshots of Irish life, both at home and abroad.

For his latest feature, Sheridan once again looks back to the past but this time chooses himself as a subject, collaborating with his two daughters Naomi and Kirsten on a partly autobiographical piece about his experiences as an outsider living and working in the United States.

Struggling Irish actor Johnny (Paddy Considine) uproots his wife Sarah (Samantha Morton) and daughters Christy (Sarah Bolger) and Ariel (Emma Bolger) to New York, where he hopes to find work.

The relocation comes as a massive culture shock to the family, which is unfamiliar with the crippling heat, the rough manners of the locals, and the constant threat of violence.

While Johnny trudges from one audition to the next, Sarah takes care of the little ones, growing close to next door neighbour Mateo (Djimon Hounsou), an African immigrant whose apartment is littered with wondrous art.

In America is a deeply moving tale of a family coming apart at the seams, filmed on location in New York with a rawness and intensity in keeping with the emotionally powerful story-line.

Considine and Morton are a formidable screen couple and the Bolger sisters bring impishness and a tangible vulnerability to the roles of the two children.

Rating: 8/10