Rating: 
Summary: This is still a rare gem!
Review: It's a little movie, to be sure. But it's very powerful. I heard a story on NPR when the film first came out. I drove all the way to Dallas just to see it and I purchased the video when it came out. This is a story about love, hardship, and family. I doubt you'll ever find such a delightful, enchanting combination like this one. I LOVE Fiona and her grandparents. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: splendid old-fashioned movie experience
Review: Given his notorious reputation for cranking out the most politically-correct of films, it's a really pleasant surprise to watch this profoundly conservative effort by John Sayles. Based on a 1959 novel by Rosalie Fry, Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry, Sayles' Roan Inish tells the story of a young girl, Fiona, who when her mother dies is sent to live with her grandparents on the Irish coast in the years immediately after WWII. The family had long lived on the island of Roan Inish, in the company of seals, but they were relocated to Donegal during the war and now may have to move again, further inland. There's an ineffable sadness about the old couple, the grandfather especially misses the island and mourns the lost way of life they enjoyed; the grandmother misses Fiona's brother, Jamie, who was swept out to sea in a wooden cradle when they were moving off of Roan Inish. Fiona though is convinced that her baby brother still lives and, indeed, her cousin Eamon tells her that he's been sighted sailing around in his cradle boat. Fiona's grandfather and cousins are only too happy to tell her tales about the family and Roan Inish, maintaining their strong ties to the island at least in memory and recitation. Finally, one cousin, Tadhg--a "dark one" (dark of hair and eye like her brother was)--tells the story of how an ancestor captured a selkie, a seal-woman. The selkies are said to swim ashore in seal form and then strip off their skins to bask in the sun as beautiful women, but if you can grab their skin before they slip away they are bound to you. The family then is descended from this selkie, though one of her children eventually told her where to find the skin and she immediately swam off. Fiona takes to visiting the island and spots Jamie herself, running naked and picking flowers, but he runs away and sails off in his cradle. She then convinces Eamon that the seals are keeping Jamie to make the family move back to the island, so the two set about secretly restoring the dilapidated huts and gardens, all the while trying to figure out how to coax the grandparents back to Roan Inish. The film is beautifully shot, by Haskell Wexler, with a lilting Celtic soundtrack, and the cast, apparently professional but largely unknown here in the States, plays it straight down the line, as drama not fantasy. Mr. Sayles never treats the audience as if we need convincing, nor stoops to treat the material ironically. It is simply assumed that we will abandon reason and suspend disbelief, and we're quite happy to do so. The whole is infused with a sentimental longing for tradition, a sense that life has a proper order and we our proper places in that order, and a disdain for change that is positively reactionary and very refreshing. The viewer has no doubt that it is necessary for the Coneelly family, the descendants of the selkie, to live on Roan Inish and that the world is a better place with this balance restored. It's all as anti-modern as can be and makes for a splendid old-fashioned movie experience, for the whole family or just for the adults. GRADE: A+
Rating:
Summary: Living, Loving, Sorrowing, Telling Stories
Review: No battles, no rebellious teenagers, no sex, no violence...Just people: living, loving, sorrowing, telling stories. And oh, how those stories resonate through time... I saw this when it first came out and loved it. Recently bought the video and watched it again. Still beautiful, achingly so, that rich and quiet Irish kind of beauty which strikes so deep into the soul. A deceptively simple tale---a young girl trying to solve the mystery of the disappearance of her baby brother during the evacuation of her ancestral island---made resonant by the power of the storyteller's voice. The contrast between the poverty of possessions and the richness of family relationships is striking, and it is one of the most beautifully-filmed movies I know, with several truly spine-shivery, eerie moments, mostly in the sepia-tinted flashbacks. The soundtrack is equally beautiful, with authentic Irish airs and lullabies woven in and out to strengthen and support the storyline. The little girl who plays Fiona does so with quiet grace, beauty, and a maturity of focus unusual in a child actor. The actor who plays her cousin Eamonn is less successful, I think, sounding rather self-conscious much of the time. The actors playing her grandparents are absolutely wonderful---and how often do we get to see older characters as the strong backbone of a movie, and not played for laughs or milked for pathos? Two other standouts: the slim, dark, feral, cousin-serval-times-removed, who provides Fiona with vital clues by relating an age-old family story, and the pre-Raphaelite-looking woman who plays Nuala, the selkie woman in the misty ancestral past, dark, wild-eyed, strange and beautiful. I think that I love this film because of the whole Celtic edge-of-otherness kind of thing, but I cannot imagine most toddlers sitting through this one. But for older children, and for family viewing, this is one I'd recommend strongly.
Rating: 
Summary: Childlike Faith and Wonderous Dreams
Review: "The Secret of Roan Inish" is underrated. Prime Irish storytelling in the form of a movie and a powerfully authentic Irish score are the foundation of a complex movie that will be replayed for decades. Mick Lally gives an incredible performance as he tells Fiona, a young lass, the story of what Roan Inish has meant to him, and what had happened. In a pure and song-like brogue he brings to life her thoughts and dreams about what might be true. Others about town tell her this and that, and she checks out the stories for herself. On the surface, the movie presents a fantasy with whimsy. Underneath it all, we can see the change parts of Ireland's sea community has felt, what this means to the Gaelic language and old Irish culture. We see the syncretism of Roman Catholicism with Irish superstition, and the practical yet fulfilling lives of the people who once lived on Roan Inish. Jeni Courtney, who plays Fiona, pulls off her role well, as do the other younger actors. There are a few parts in which I think the story asked us to make a few jumps, but in the end, the movie works. In a spirit similar to "Miracle on 34th Street," we have females characters, and a story to be appreciated at all ages. It strikes a note of traditional movie making in a way that this DVD will be replayed at many a Christmas holiday. I recommend "The Secret of Roan Inish." Anthony Trendl
Rating:
Summary: great story
Review: My seven-year-old daughter and wife and I were enthralled watching this movie. A great tale. The acting isn't always great -- the kids are a bit stiff -- but the story transcends it.
Rating:
Summary: Not For Everybody, But Quietly Enchanting
Review: The Story: A little girl lives in the city in Ireland, but her mother passes away, and her father cannot care for her properly. She is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village on the West coast of Ireland. The grandparents now live near Roan Inish, the island where the entire family used to live. Why don't they live there anymore? That's the "secret" part of the title. The girl gradually discovers the magic and the legend that enshroud her family's past. With her enthusiastic grasping of that magic, the legend will also enshroud their future, as the family is being evicted and (gasp!) will have to go live in the city, which will destroy her fisherman-grandfather. The little girl, and her cousin, do not fear the magic, though, and, as they learn the "secret", they turn the tide. Technical: The scenery, the photography, the directing, the script, the music, and the acting all are superb and fit together seamlessly. The animals even play their parts perfectly! Commentary: This film is quiet and enchanting. This is not a child's story, but a story for any age that happens to revolve around a child. It will be too quiet for some, but is a delight for the patient and thoughtful movie buff. It is also a good family movie.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating!
Review: This film is truly a unique experience that never goes in quite the direction you expect it to. Set in the rural Irish coast in the 1940's, it's full of pictueresque scenes and hauning beauty. Despite being about the experiences of a young girl, though, it's not sappy or sentimental at all. The score is sparse and only includes traditional Irish folk music. This lack of dross allows one to really appeciate the film's story. I won't give it away, but it's a tale of magic woven into a very real world. Full of local colour without being trite and equally full of breatakingly engaging scenes full of mood and mystery. The acting's fantastic, the scenery and cinematography very realistic and believable and the tale itself one that weaves its spell in subtle yet powerful ways. If you're at all interested in Ireland and its mythology or if you're a nature lover, see it! If not, it's still worth a watch, as its power to enchant and haunt seems universal.
Rating:
Summary: Far Out Movie Theme
Review: This is just one of those fun movies where you can not wait to see what happens next. The theme centers around a lost person who many believe has been taken by mermaids and lives with them now. The show is not for someone who is looking for super special effects and that sort of thing, but it has a great idea behind the show. The story is for the most part quite interesting and kids and none judgemental adults who enjoy the simple pleasures of a decent movie will I believe enjoy this one very much.
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting!!
Review: Beautiful, sweet, charming real life fairy tale. Great for adults and children. WE LOVE IT!!!! You must get the soundtrack as well, it is beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting!!
Review: Beautiful, sweet, charming real life fairy tale. Great for adults and children. WE LOVE IT!...
| 
