With a title like "In America" you might expect more of the immigrant (in this case illegal immigrant) experience in modern America; but such a plot is only a backdrop for a bitter/sweet story about a close family dealing with the death of a child.

Tremendous acting by the sisters (who really are sisters) and a sharply written script in terms of dialogue and other elements. It's a fine piece of work, my girlfriend liked it, so my apologies, but I have no rational basis why I can't rave about the film. It's just not what I wanted to see on my night out at the movies.

Excellent publicity though.

"A lot of what takes place in the film really happened to us," Says Jim Sheridan, "I really did drag an air conditioner across NY, I really did lose a lot of money trying to win an amusement park doll and we really did have a premature baby -- but I definitely changed and added a lot of things, including the time period. In fact, in some cases the truth was far too strange to work as fiction." He continues, "I always felt where we lived in NY was safe enough with the junkies and transients, but what is really dangerous is denial ...you can't protection your family from loss and uncertainty, certainly not by hiding. But you can love them, and love itself is a kind of protection." He goes on to say, "I wrote the script with my daughters Naomi and Kirsten, who provided unique perspectives on our move from Ireland to the U.S. that were altogether fascinating and humbling. If you ever want to learn what your kids really think ... have them write a script about you!"