My Review of ‘The Secret of Roan Inish’ (1994)
Hi. Today I’m reviewing The Secret of Roan Inish. It’s a film directed by John Sayles, and it’s really, really excellent.
I got to see it as part of the movie discussion group I’m in through Anne Arundel County Library, and it’s just a beautifully filmed movie and just so cool. It was filmed in Ireland on one of the islands, and it’s about an island: Roan Inish. And all I’ll say is that it involves a lot of kind of mythical stuff, things dealing with the selkies. That’s S-E-L-K-I-E-S, I think selkies, who are kind of part human, part seal. And I really don’t want to say too much because I’ll give things away that I don’t want to give away. But I’ll tell you some of the lines that I really enjoyed for some reason or other. Let’s see.
Oh, there’s a young girl and she goes off to live with her, I guess, grandparents on this remote island. They used to live on Roan Inish and now they’re in this other place. And Roan Inish has kind of fallen into disrepair. That’s again, all I’ll say. She goes off to live with her grandparents. And her grandparents are really interesting people. I mean, the man gives this kind of storytelling. There’s a storytelling part that it just feels like you’re being read to by your great-grandfather or something. It just feels so warm and intimate. It’s just great. And here’s some just nice lines I liked.
“You’d like that. Living with the old people.” I thought that was kind of cool, living with the old people.
“Jamie alive? And cows could have wings.” I like that one.
“She’s not one of the dark ones, is she?” Hmm. Dark ones. What’s that about?
“I knew — “ No, nope, nope. Can’t go there. Never mind. I won’t say that one. But I just want to say I really enjoyed this movie and it made me want to go back to Ireland and maybe even just write about it. Maybe learn more about some of my own heritage, because I’m part Irish.
And, oh, the other thing I was going to mention was through a contact that the librarian at the Anne Arundel County Library has, that would be Andy Wolverton. We were able to ask questions of John Sayles. And I got to say he is really, really just the nicest guy and just riveting to listen to. Honest. I mean, I’m taking notes here. I’ve got one, two, three pages of notes about what John Sayles had to say and the fact that he got to work with Haskell Wexler. Just to be able to talk to a person who worked with Haskell Wexler is to me awesome. So I mean, these are just remarkable movies that people like that make. And he talked a lot about the technical aspects of making it, which were sometimes tricky, but they made it in seven weeks. I was just so impressed by that. I’m just impressed with the whole thing.
So I highly recommend everybody see this movie and I’m recommending this one for my sister, because she doesn’t normally like movies, but I think she would like this one. Anyway, having said that, I loved The Secret of Roan Inish and hope that you will check it out. Thanks. Talk to you later.
That reminds me, I’ve got to do reviews of two other movies that John Sayles directed or wrote or both, Eight Men Out and Lone Star. God, I love those movies, honest. So anyway, talk to you later. See you.
