Main Cast: Mick Lally, Eileen Colgan, John Lynch, Jeni Courtney, Richard Sheridan
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
The magic of folklore forms the basis of this Irish tale by writer-director John Sayles. Adapted from the book Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry, the 1940s story is told from the point-of-view of Fiona (Jeni Courtney), a young girl sent to live with her grandparents in an Irish fishing town. Her grandfather weaves grand stories about the family's evacuation from their home on the tiny island of Roan Inish and about his great-great grandfather, who once cheated death at the hands of the unforgiving sea. As she meets other villagers, Fiona hears even more personal stories about an uncle who married a beautiful, part-human/ part-seal and about how the sea stole her baby brother during the departure from Roan Inish. Later, Fiona believes that she has found Jamie romping in the grass on Roan Inish, and she must convince the family of her vision. While Roan Inish has the feel of a family film, it shares with other Sayles works a character who learns history through storytelling, such as Sam Deeds in Lone Star (1996) and Dr. Fuentes in Men with Guns (1997). Sayles builds cohesive stories from multiple voices, showing the importance of oral history and indicating that learning the past can alter the future. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide
Review
John Sayles' flexibility has always been one of his most underrated strengths. His ability to create with great detail the workings of communities, by now something of a trademark, is the sort of skill that translates to a wider variety of projects and just as many settings. Here Sayles chooses a small Irish community, allowing the details of it to unfold as his protagonist, a child and an outsider, discovers them for herself. Sayles' lack of sentimentality serves him well in dealing with the film's highly emotional material. The family history, folk tales, and the drama of a lost child all could have tipped The Secret of Roan Inish into undisciplined whimsy or unearned pathos. Instead he beautifully portrays how stories build into histories and bind communities and families together into a shared and continuing story. For all that, it's also a fantastic children's film, the perfect antidote for the condescending and overly commercial fare that usually passes for kid-oriented entertainment. Pitching to all levels, Sayles crafts a gripping story that those who see it when young will grow to appreciate all the more when older. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Cillian Byrne - Jamie; Pat Slowey - Priest; Dave Duffy - Jim; Declan Hannigan - Oldest brother; Fergal McElherron - Sean Michael; Frankie McCafferty - Tim; Gerald Rooney - Liam; Susan Lynch - Selkie; Linda Greer - Brigid; Brendan Conroy - Flynn; Gerard Rooney - Liam Coneelly; Eddie Erskine - Bar Patron; Suzanne Gallagher - Selkie's Daughter; Pat Howey - Priest; Mícheál MacCárthaigh - Schoolmaster; Eugene McHugh - Bar Patron; Mairéad Ní Ghallchóir - Barmaid; Tony Rubini - Bar Patron
Credit
Dennis Bosher - Art Director, R. Paul Miller - Associate Producer, Ros Hubbard - Casting, John Hubbard - Casting, Consolata Boyle - Costume Designer, Peter Mcaleese - First Assistant Director, John Sayles - Director, John Sayles - Editor, Peter Newman - Executive Producer, John Sloss - Executive Producer, Glenn R. Jones - Executive Producer, Mason K. Daring - Composer (Music Score), Adrian Smith - Production Designer, Haskell Wexler - Cinematographer, Sarah Green - Producer, Maggie Renzi - Producer, Tom Conroy - Set Designer, Clive Winter - Sound/Sound Designer, John Sayles - Screenwriter, Rosalie K. Fry - Book Author
The soundtrack from the critically acclaimed new film by celebrated director John Sayles features original music composed by Mason Daring, mixed with traditional Celtic folk songs. Popular Celtic artists Maire Breatnach and Eileen Loughnane are also on hand, performing the album's three haunting vocal tracks. Produced and arranged by Daring, the instrumentation includes flutes, whistles, fiddles, Celtic harp and mandocello and the Hawthorne String Quartet. The film itself is an enchanting fairy tale about family tradition and renewal, and this soundtrack captures its essence beautifully. ~ MusD, All Music Guide
Tracks
Track Title
Composers
Performers
Time
Return to Roan Inish (Pt. 1): Mist Covered Mountain/Shores of ...
The Secret of Roan Inish is an Americanindependent film written and directed by John Sayles, and released in 1994. It's based on the novel The Secret of Ron Mor Skerry, by Rosalie K. Fry.[1]
It is centered on the Irish and Orcadian folklores of selkies—seals that can shed their skins to become human. The story, set on the west coast of Ireland, is about Fiona, a young girl who is sent to live with her grandparents near the island of Roan Inish, where the selkies are rumored to reside. It is an old family legend that her younger brother was swept away in his infancy and raised by a selkie. Part of the film takes place in Donegal.
The movie has been widely praised for its uniqueness and its breathtaking cinematography filmed by Haskell Wexler.
The story is told from the point-of-view of Fiona — played by Jeni Courtney — a young girl who is sent to live with her grandparents in an Irish fishing village.
Her grandfather weaves tall tales about the family's evacuation from their home on the tiny island of Roan Inish and his great-great grandfather, who once cheated death at the hands of the sea.
As she meets other villagers, Fiona hears more personal stories about an ancestor who married a beautiful, part-human/part-seal, and more about how the sea stole her baby brother during the departure from Roan Inish.
Later, Fiona believes that she has found Jamie romping in the grass on Roan Inish, and she must convince the family of her vision.
Although in the original novel the story takes place in Scotland, the filmmakers decided to have the film take place in Ireland for practical reasons.[2]
Critical reception
Critic Stephen Holden, of The New York Times, liked the film's direction. He wrote, "The Secret of Roan Inish is the first film directed by Mr. Sayles that could be described as visually rhapsodic. Photographed by Haskell Wexler on Ireland's rugged northwestern seacoast, it is a cinematic tone poem in which man and nature, myth and reality flow together in a way that makes them ultimately indivisible."[3]
