Song of the Sea (2014 film)

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Song of the Sea
File:Song of the Sea (2014 film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tomm Moore
Produced by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Tomm Moore[1]
  • Ross Murray[1]
  • Paul Young[1]
  • Stephan Roelants[1]
  • Serge Ume[1]
  • Marc Ume[1]
  • Isabelle Truc[1]
  • Clement Calvet[1]
  • Jeremie Fajner[1]
  • Frederik Villumsen[1]
  • Claus Toksvig Kjaer[1]
Screenplay by Will Collins[1]
Story by Tomm Moore
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Edited by Darragh Byrne
Darren T. Holmes (consulting editor)
Production
company
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Distributed by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • StudioCanal (Ireland)
  • O'Brother Distribution (Belgium)
  • Haut et Court (France)
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • September 6, 2014 (2014-09-06) (TIFF)
  • December 10, 2014 (2014-12-10) (France/Belgium/Luxembourg)
  • February 19, 2015 (2015-02-19) (Denmark)
  • July 10, 2015 (2015-07-10) (Ireland)
Running time
 93 minutes[2]
Country <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Language English
Irish
Box office $841,122 (US)[4]

Song of the Sea is a 2014 Irish animated fantasy film. Directed and produced by Tomm Moore, it is the second feature-length film by Cartoon Saloon. Song of the Sea follows the story of a 10-year-old Irish boy named Ben (David Rawle) who discovers that his mute sister Saoirse, whom he blames for the death of his mother, is a selkie who has to free faerie creatures from the Celtic goddess Macha. The hand-animated film, which began production soon after the release of The Secret of Kells (2009), premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September in the TIFF Kids programme.[5]

The film received worldwide critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.[6][7]

Plot

On an island off the coast of Ireland, lives Conor, a lighthouse keeper; his son Ben; his wife Bronagh, who is expecting their second child; and their sheepdog Cú. Bronagh suddenly disappears late one night (presumed to have died during childbirth), leaving behind her newborn daughter Saoirse. Six years later, in 1987, Conor is a broken man, Saoirse has yet to speak single word, and Ben has grown to despise his sister and grew really jealous of her, associating her with his mother's disappearance. The family are then visited by their grandmother, Granny, for Saoirse's birthday. That night, Ben scares Saoirse with a story of Mac Lir, the giant, and his mother Macha, the Owl Witch, who stole his feelings and turned him to stone. Later, Saoirse plays a seashell horn given to Ben by their mother, and it leads her to a white sealskin coat hidden in Conor's closet. She puts the coat on and is coaxed into the ocean by a group of seals. It is then revealed that she is a beautiful white selkie. After swimming with the seals, she is found washed up onshore by Granny, who insists upon taking the children back home to the city for their own safety. Conor reluctantly agrees despite Ben's protests, especially that Cú cannot go with them, and throws the chest containing Saoirse's coat and its key into the sea.

The following night, on Halloween, Saoirse plays the shell, alerting a group of Faerie creatures to her presence. Ben and Saoirse begin attempting to travel home, but encounter the Faeries who hope that Saoirse will sing the Song of the Sea and allow them and all their brethren to travel home to Tír na nÓg. However, they are attacked by Macha's owls, who turn the Faeries to stone. The siblings take a bus into the country, where they run into Cú, who had originally been following them to the city. Without her coat, Saoirse is rapidly growing deathly ill, shown by her hair turning white. They come across a sacred well that Saoirse falls into. Ben tries to follow her and meets the Great Seanachaí, who tells Ben that his sister has been kidnapped by Macha's owls, he also tells Ben that Saoirse is mute because she does not have her coat and will soon die without it in the sixth year. He gives Ben one of his hairs that will lead him to the witch's house. The hair first shows the story that the night his mother left, she didn't die, but she went to the sea to rescue Saoirse and stayed in the sea as a seal for six years. Ben tearfully realizes how selfish and unfair he has been to Saoirse in these years. Ben then meets Macha, who is not the villain he imagined. She claims that when her son, Mac Lir, suffered from a broken heart, she took away his suffering, turning him into the small island near Ben's home. She is determined to do the same for everyone, even herself.

Ben manages to rescue Saoirse and the shell's song releases Macha's feelings back into her, which helps her recognize the gravity of her actions that aren't helping people by turning them stone just made their problems worst. The witch helps Ben, Saoirse, and Cú fly back home with the spirits of Mac Lir's dogs. The children arrive home during a storm, and Conor attempts to take them back to the mainland to get Saoirse to a hospital; at the same time, Granny is on her way to their island in search of her missing grandchildren. Ben dives into the sea in search of Saoirse's coat, which he recovers with help from the seals and his father and Saoirse now spoke for the first time. The group is then washed up on Mac Lir's island, where Saoirse, reunited with her coat, is restored to health and sings her song. Faerie creatures from across Ireland rise and travel to Mac Lir's island, and Mac Lir himself emerges with Macha and his dogs as they head to Tír na nÓg. Bronagh appears with the sad news that she and Saoirse must depart as well. However, since Saoirse is part human, Bronagh is able to take her coat and leave her behind to live as a human while she departs for another six years. After a tearful goodbye, the Faeries depart across the sea, and Ben and his family happily return home to their island, where Granny finally arrives, and decides the children can stay with their father. During the ending, Ben and Saoirse's friendship is now formed and grew stronger and stronger during their family times together.

Voice cast

Music

Song Of The Sea
Soundtrack album by Bruno Coulais & Kíla
Released January 1, 2014 (2014-01-01)
Length 54:02
Label Universal Music Group

The original music for the film was composed by Bruno Coulais, in collaboration with the Irish group Kíla. The film also features songs by Nolwenn Leroy. A soundtrack album, consisting of 25 songs from the film, was released digitally on 9 December 2014 by Decca Records.[9]

Track listing

Song of the Sea (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
No. Title Length
1. "Song of the Sea (performed by Lisa Hannigan)"   2:42
2. "The Mother's Portrait"   2:26
3. "The Sea Scene"   2:42
4. "The Song (performed by Lisa Hannigan and Lucy O' Connell)"   5:16
5. "The Key in the Sea"   0:59
6. "The Derry Tune"   1:58
7. "In the Streets"   1:05
8. "Dance with the Fish"   2:05
9. "The Seals"   0:45
10. "Something Is Wrong (performed by Lisa Hannigan)"   2:04
11. "Run"   2:31
12. "Head Credits (performed by Lisa Hannigan)"   1:44
13. "Get Away"   1:18
14. "Help"   2:33
15. "Sadness"   1:06
16. "Molly"   1:05
17. "I Hate You"   1:33
18. "Who Are You"   1:19
19. "The Storm"   1:55
20. "Katy's Tune"   3:30
21. "In the Bus (performed by Lisa Hannigan)"   0:44
22. "The Thread (performed by Lisa Hannigan)"   2:24
23. "Amhrán Na Farraige (performed by Lisa Hannigan)"   2:45
24. "Song of the Sea (Lullaby) (From "Song of the Sea") (performed by Nolwenn Leroy)"   3:46
25. "La chanson de la mer (berceuse) (Extrait du film "Le chant de la mer") (performed by Nolwenn Leroy)"   3:47
Total length:
 54:02

Release

Song of the Sea premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2014 in the TIFF Kids program.[5] Theatrically, it was released in France, Belgium and Luxembourg on 10 December 2014.[10] It received a limited release in North America on 19 December 2014, which qualified it for an Academy Award nomination.[11] It was released in Ireland on 10 July 2015.[12]

Reception

Critical response

Early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Todd Brown, founder and editor of Twitch Film, gave a highly positive review of the film, saying that "a tale that weds absolutely gorgeous artwork with beautifully nuanced characters and a deep but natural rooting in ancient folk tales and magic, Song of the Sea has an assured and timeless quality to it. It is the sort of story that feels as though it always existed somewhere, just waiting until now to be told". "Song of the Sea is not about selling units, it's about story and heart and emotion and wonder and craftsmanship and because of that it becomes timeless, a beautiful piece of art that will delight audiences old and young and confirms what many suspected of Moore after Kells: The man's a master storyteller, and we can only hope he has many, many more stories to tell." [13]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 99% and an average rating of 8.4/10 based on 77 reviews.[14] It also has a score of 85 out of 100 on Metacritic from 24 reviews.[15]

Writing in the Toronto Review, Carlos Aguilar said of the film: "Watching Song of the Sea it is easy to assert that this is one of the most blissfully beautiful animated films ever made. It is a gem beaming with awe-inspiring, heartwarming magic".[16]

Sara Stewart from the New York Post said "If you want some real cinematic magic this holiday season, don’t miss this enchanting Irish film about a pair of siblings and a piece of Celtic folklore that turns out to be true".[17]

Accolades

List of Awards and Nominations

Year Award Category Recipients and nominees Results
2014 Festival International des Voix du Cinéma d'Animation (Port Leucate, France)[18] Prix Spécial du Jury Song of the Sea Won
2015 42nd Annual Annie Awards[19] Best Animated Feature Tomm Moore, Paul Young Nominated
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production Tomm Moore, Marie Thorhauge, Sandra Anderson, Rosa Ballester Cabo Nominated
Directing in an Animated Feature Production Tomm Moore Nominated
Music in a Feature Production Bruno Coulais & Kíla Nominated
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production Adrien Merigeau Nominated
Writing in an Animated Feature Production Will Collins Nominated
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production Darragh Byrne Nominated
19th Satellite Awards[20] Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature Song of the Sea Won
40th César Awards[21] Best Animated Feature Film Song of the Sea Nominated
87th Academy Awards[22] Best Animated Feature Song of the Sea Nominated
12th Irish Film & Television Awards[23] Best Film Song of the Sea Won
Best Film Script Will Collins Nominated
28th European Film Awards[24] Best Animated Feature Film Song of the Sea Won
2016 6th Magritte Awards[25] Best Foreign Film in Coproduction Song of the Sea Nominated
21st Empire Awards[26][27] Best Animated Film Song of the Sea Nominated

Also see

References

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External links

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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