The Secret of Roan Inish

Director: John Sayles

1994 / 103min / DCP

An unusual foray into the “children’s movie” for Sayles—though a work of sound craftsmanship and emotional force that will appeal to viewers of all ages—The Secret of Roan Inish follows 10-year-old Fiona, who, after being sent to live with her grandparents in an Irish fishing village following her mother’s death, becomes fascinated by local legends concerning shape-shifting “selkies” and reports of her baby brother’s mysterious disappearance after being swept out to sea years earlier. A mesmerizing, gentle work of magic realism which, set in the 1940s, as industrialization has made inroads into even rural Ireland, old traditions are fading, and the equilibrium of the natural world is upset, also feels perfectly aligned to Sayles’s recurring thematic concerns.