Song of the Sea (2014 film)


Song of the Sea is a 2014 animated fantasy film directed and co-produced by Tomm Moore, co-produced by Ross Murray, Paul Young, Stephen Roelants, Serge and Marc Ume, Isabelle Truc, Clement Calvet, Jeremie Fajner, Frederik Villumsen, and Claus Toksvig Kjaer, and written by Will Collins from Moore's story. It was an international co-production from Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, and Luxembourg, and is the second feature film by Cartoon Saloon.
Song of the Sea follows the story of a 10-year-old Irish boy named Ben who discovers that his mute sister Saoirse, whom he blames for the apparent death of his mother, is a selkie who has to free faerie creatures from the Celtic goddess Macha.
Like other Saloon films, the film was hand-drawn. The film began production soon after the release of The Secret of Kells, premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September in the "TIFF Kids" programme. The film had a limited release in certain countries, but received acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.
The Irish-language version has been produced by Macalla with funding from TG4 and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, with selected cinemas in Ireland screening it from 10 July 2015. Brendan Gleeson and Fionnula Flanagan reprised their respective roles in this version. The DVD with the Irish audio can be bought in Cartoon Saloon's online store.

Plot

Conor, a lighthouse keeper, lives on an island with his son Ben, his pregnant wife Bronagh, and their Old English Sheepdog Cú. Bronagh disappears late one night, presumably dying after childbirth, leaving behind a daughter, Saoirse.
Six years later, Conor is broken, Saoirse is mute, and Ben is hostile toward Saoirse, blaming her for Bronagh's disappearance. On Saoirse's birthday, they are visited by their grandmother, "Granny," who thinks that the lighthouse is not a fit place to raise the children. That night, Ben scares Saoirse with a story of Mac Lir 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, leading her to a white sealskin coat in Conor's closet. She puts on the coat and walks to a group of seals in the sea, revealing herself as a selkie. After swimming, she is found by Granny, who insists upon taking the children to the city. Conor reluctantly agrees despite Ben's protests and locks the coat in a chest, then throwing it into the sea.
On Halloween, Saoirse plays the seashell, alerting Færies called "Na Daoine Sídhe" to her. She and Ben attempt to go home, but encounter the Færies, hoping she will allow them to return to Tír na nÓg. However, they are attacked by Macha's owls, turning the Færies to stone. They take a country bus, and run into Cú, who has followed them. However, Saoirse is growing ill. They come across a holy well into which Saoirse dives. Ben follows her and meets the Great Seanachaí: they learn Saoirse was kidnapped by Macha, and she is mute because she needs the coat and will soon die if she does not get it back. He gives Ben one of his hairs that will lead him to Macha. As he follows the hair, it shows him that Bronagh – a selkie herself – was forced to return to the ocean on the night of Saoirse's birth, leaving her husband and the child behind. Since Ben found the truth, the walls of hair open, showing him a way out and to the house. The Færies who turned to stone come alive and warn Ben to avoid the jars, tell him to be careful and brave, and wish him good luck.
Ben then meets Macha, who explains that when Mac Lir suffered from a broken heart, she turned him into an island near their home. She is determined to do likewise for everyone, even herself. Ben manages to rescue Saoirse, giving Macha back her feelings and allowing her to recognize that taking away feelings doesn't help. She helps to fly them back home, and Conor attempts to take Saoirse to a hospital; simultaneously, Granny is nearing the island to find them. Ben dives into the sea in search of Saoirse's coat and recovers it with Conor and the seals’ help. Saoirse's coat is put on her, and her voice surprises Ben and Conor. Mac Lir's dogs come to push the boat over, and Conor and Ben are happy with how Saoirse's coat changes her into a little seal. Ben rides on her back and his father rides on another seal's back to Mac Lir's island. The group is then washed up on Mac Lir's island, but Saoirse's health is not fully restored. Ben tries to get Saoirse to sing, and she eventually sings the Song of the Sea. The song causes Saoirse's health to be fully restored, making the magical golden lights which cause the spirits and the Færies to rise out of the stone and travel to Mac Lir. Mac Lir is transformed back into his original form out of the stone and continues with Macha, his dogs, the Great Seanachaí and the Faeries back home to Tír na nÓg.
Bronagh appears to take Saoirse to Tír na nÓg with her, but Ben pleads to let Saoirse stay with them, because she's all they have. Since she is half-human, the choice rests with Saoirse, who elects to remain behind with her father and brother, even though it means giving up her selkie powers and becoming fully human, if Bronagh takes Saoirse's coat to untangle their worlds. Accepting her daughter's decision, Bronagh takes her coat. Conor tells Bronagh that he loves her so much, and they kiss. Ben asks Bronagh to stay as well, but she is unable to stay and tells him to remember her in his stories and songs and that she'll always love him. She kisses her son's forehead. After a tearful farewell, Ben and his family happily return home to their island, where Granny finally arrives, and she decides the children can stay with their father.
During the epilogue, Ben and Conor paint and called by Granny and Saoirse to the beach. Ben and Saoirse reconcile and become friends. Ben, Saoirse, and Cu swim with the seals, as the ending title goes to then Irish "Críoch," later translated to "The End.” The end credits come with the concept arts and animation, along with the "Song of the Sea" - the regular version and the lullaby version.

Voice cast

English

The original music for the film was composed by Bruno Coulais, in collaboration with the Irish group Kíla. "The Derry Tune" originally featured on Kíla's 2010 album Soisín. The film also features the voice of Lisa Hannigan and songs by Nolwenn Leroy. A soundtrack album, consisting of 25 songs from the film, was released digitally on 9 December 2014 by Decca Records.
; Track listing

Release

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

Reception

Box office

The film has grossed in China and in the United States and Canada.

Critical response

Early reviews were 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."
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a Certified Fresh approval rating of 99% based on 91 reviews, with an average rating of 8.44/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Song of the Sea boasts narrative depth commensurate with its visual beauty, adding up to an animated saga overflowing with family-friendly riches." On Metacritic the film has a score of 85 out of 100, from 24 reviews indicating "universal acclaim".
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".
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".
An animator Ken Priebe found in the film a lot of influence of Hayao Miyazaki, in particular, the scene on the bus is similar to the scene on the train from Spirited Away, and the owl witch looks like Yubaba from the same film.

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryRecipientsResults
2014Festival International des Voix du Cinéma d'Animation Prix Spécial du JurySong of the Sea
201542nd Annual Annie AwardsBest Animated FeatureTomm Moore, Paul Young
201542nd Annual Annie AwardsCharacter Design in an Animated Feature ProductionTomm Moore, Marie Thorhauge, Sandra Anderson, Rosa Ballester Cabo
201542nd Annual Annie AwardsDirecting in an Animated Feature ProductionTomm Moore
201542nd Annual Annie AwardsMusic in a Feature ProductionBruno Coulais & Kíla
201542nd Annual Annie AwardsProduction Design in an Animated Feature ProductionAdrien Merigeau
201542nd Annual Annie AwardsWriting in an Animated Feature ProductionWill Collins
201542nd Annual Annie AwardsEditorial in an Animated Feature ProductionDarragh Byrne
201519th Satellite AwardsBest Animated or Mixed Media FeatureSong of the Sea
201540th César AwardsBest Animated Feature FilmSong of the Sea
201587th Academy AwardsBest Animated FeatureSong of the Sea
201512th Irish Film & Television AwardsBest FilmSong of the Sea
201512th Irish Film & Television AwardsBest Film ScriptWill Collins
201528th European Film AwardsBest Animated Feature FilmSong of the Sea
20166th Magritte AwardsBest Foreign Film in CoproductionSong of the Sea
201621st Empire AwardsBest Animated FilmSong of the Sea

DVD

Song of the Sea was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in Region 1 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on March 17, 2015; it is also available from Amazon Prime.