10-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie - a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate..
Tales within tales, a subtle sense of economic and social realities, fine landscape photography and strong performances make for an engrossing, unusual fantasy.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
This is all rather low-key and uninsistent, but the settings are gorgeous, and Haskell Wexler's cinematography makes the most of them.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
11 Mar 2008
fresh:
Moving from passion fish to mystical seals, versatile filmmaker John Sayles' latest is a first-rate, all-ages fairy tale steeped in Irish folklore.
– Michael Rechtshaffen,
Hollywood Reporter,
11 Mar 2008
rotten:
John Sayles' latest marks his entry into family-pic terrain, a crossing that draws pleasant but unexciting results.
– Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
11 Mar 2008
fresh:
The rhythms are placid and the camerawork (by Haskell Wexler) is simple and unfussy. The film's a charm.