Song of the Sea (2014)
Director: Tomm Moore
Starring: David Rawle, Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan
Synopsis:
The son of a lighthouse keeper must help his selkie sister awaken her powers in order to restore supernatural creatures who have been turned to stone by the witch Macha.
Impressions:
I can remember seeing the poster for this years ago and it piquing my curiosity, but I didn't take sufficiently active measures to try to watch it. It just happened to be available in an airline movie list and so I was able to experience it. I'm not all that well-versed on Irish folklore, so this was a nice way to get more exposure to it. The animation style is distinct and appealing with a number of nice little touches. As for the story itself, you might find Ben rather unlikeable at first given how he treats his sister, but it's all in service of his character arc, so hopefully you find it worthwhile by the end, but he is really hard to get along with for much of the film. On a higher thematic level, I do like the structure that holds the real world and the fantastical one in parallel. It's a good film that nicely shares Irish culture with the world and is worth a watch at the very least.
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