Song of the Sea (2014)
Directed by Tomm Moore
The story of the last Seal Child’s journey home. After their mother’s disappearance, Ben and Saoirse are sent to live with Granny in the city. When they resolve to return to their home by the sea, their journey becomes a race against time as they are drawn into a world Ben knows only from his mother’s folktales. But this is no bedtime story; these fairy folk have been in our world far too long. It soon becomes clear to Ben that Saoirse is the key to their survival.
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13 films that influenced Song of the Sea
What critics say influenced Song of the Sea
Fans of John Sayles’ “The Secret of Roan Inish” will see echoes of that 1994 drama in the main character, a shape-shifting “selkie” who abandons her human body in the water to become a seal.
(John Sayles wonderful 1994 film “The Secret of Roan Inish” is another selkie tale.)
Both John Sayles’ “The Secret of Roan Inish” and Neil Jordan’s “Ondine” did so as well.)
"Song of the Sea" begins with the myth of the selkie, a creature (also featured in John Sayles' 1994 "The Secret of Roan Inish") who manages to be a seal in the ocean but a human on land.
(Fans of independent cinema may remember a live-action movie sourced from this legend, John Sayles’ “The Secret of Roan Inish,” in 1994.)
Maybe you’ve caught screen interpretations, like John Sayles’s “The Secret of Roan Inish” (1994) or Neil Jordan’s “Ondine” (2009).
Song of the Sea is more inspired by than based on Irish mythology … The world of the movie’s adapted mythology — like the unseen world in a Hayao Miyazaki film like My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away — stands matter-of-factly alongside the everyday world.
For it's a love letter to Irish folklore through and through; that, and a series of impressions and variations on a theme by Miyazaki Hayao (there's unexpectedly rich veins of Spirited Away in the film's bones), played on Gaelic instruments.
With the closest comparison being his own prior work as well as Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, his film brim full of wonder and lessons of morality, all tinged with childlike glee in its artistry.
Song of the Sea is more inspired by than based on Irish mythology … The world of the movie’s adapted mythology — like the unseen world in a Hayao Miyazaki film like My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away — stands matter-of-factly alongside the everyday world.
Both John Sayles’ “The Secret of Roan Inish” and Neil Jordan’s “Ondine” did so as well.)
The Neal Jordan fable “Ondine,” starring Colin Farrell, was inspired by the same myth.
Maybe you’ve caught screen interpretations, like John Sayles’s “The Secret of Roan Inish” (1994) or Neil Jordan’s “Ondine” (2009).
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For what it’s worth, I prefer Song of the Sea.) Moore has also cited The Jungle Book and Mike Newell’s Into the West as influences, but I keep coming back to Miyazaki.
His first came in 2009 for “The Secret of Kells,” which also celebrated Irish lore.
The film, from director Tomm Moore of the surprise Oscar nominee The Secret of Kells, focuses on Ben and his seemingly mute 6-year old sister Saoirse, who live with their emotionally distant father Conor (voiced by a fittingly gruff and terse Brendan Gleeson).
Director Tomm Moore (“The Secret of Kells”) wrote the story Will Collins turned into a screenplay.
A review of the enchanting animated film, “Song of the Sea,” directed by Irish animator Tomm Moore (“The Secret of Kells”).
Irish animator Tomm Moore returns with the Oscar-nominated “Song of the Sea,” the follow-up to his 2009 animated feature “The Secret of Kells,” which also won a nomination.
(This applies as equally to Frozen as it does to something like Despicable Me, which feels like a descendant of something like Gerald McBoing-Boing.)
Like “The Wizard of Oz” and other great children’s stories, the constant threat of death envelops nearly every scene, creating a sense of unease that underscores just how much is at stake, not just for the kids, but for the fading tradition of Celtic folklore.
Just as Dorothy disappeared into her imagination in The Wizard Of Oz to deal with her fears, so too does Ben (David Rawle), who is forced to come to terms with the death of his mother and face the responsibility of looking after his younger sister Saoirse.
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Tomm Moore's touching Song of the Sea is not anime, but it shares elements with some of the best anime films of recent years, particularly Mamoru Hosoda's Wolf Children.
The Miyazaki influence goes deeper; Studio Ghibli fans may at turns be reminded of Ponyo as well as Totoro and Spirited Away.