Song of the Sea (Cartoon Saloon)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

New film from the makers of The Secret of Kells, Kilkenny based Cartoon Saloon.

I've been following the progress of this film for what feels like forever now but it's finally had it's premiere in Toronto and has gotten some nice reviews so far.

Can't find the exact date right now but I think it's got an October/November release date here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BErMnHZR-SA

http://twitchfilm.com/2014/09/toronto-2014-review-song-of-the-sea-is-a-timeless-delight-for-all-ages.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TwitchEverything+%28Twitch%29

http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/toronto-review-song-of-the-sea-is-a-blissfully-beautiful-journey-into-irish-folklore-20140907

www.cinefilles.ca/2014/09/07/tiff-14-song-of-the-sea/

pickarooney

I couldn't find an active thread on this...
Went to see this in the cinema today and found it excellent. Beautifully drawn and with a moving story.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

pickarooney wrote: »

I couldn't find an active thread on this...
Went to see this in the cinema today and found it excellent. Beautifully drawn and with a moving story.

Where are you that you saw it in the cinema? It seems to be showing in some random countries but not here?

pickarooney

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Where are you that you saw it in the cinema? It seems to be showing in some random countries but not here?

France. It came out here last week. Bizarre that it's not been released in Ireland yet. Was it the same with the book of kells? I remember hearing nothing about that until after I'd seen it too.

johnny_ultimate

It's due out in Ireland in a week or two I believe. There were press screenings just before Christmas.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I don't know how The Secret if Kells release worked. I know they're Co productions with Belgium which could maybe explain a French release but it's showing in America too.

I assume there's a release planned for here still. Kells did very well getting an Oscar nom and all that so it would be crazy not to have a proper release for their follow up.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I asked Cartoon Saloon on Twitter if they had a release date for Ireland and they said later this year but they've no set date yet. I know it's a co production but it's kind of annoying that it's been released in quite a few places for a while now and still no sign of it here.

Sarxos

Following its Oscar nomination yesterday they've announced that it will be released on July 10th in Ireland and the UK. It will also premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in July. http://www.scannain.com/irish/song-of-the-sea-fleadh

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

It's being released on DVD and Blu-Ray next week. I assume that's a US region release but it's a bit ridiculous that a film produced here isn't even getting a cinema release until July but can be bought on DVD for 4 months before, no?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

FINALLY!

It's out here today. Hoping to see at some point over the weekend.

Tipsy McSwagger

Might go to this next Thursday which is fiver Thursday if you book online. Cartoon Saloon is just around the corner from the cinema here in Kilkenny and there was a buzz there yesterday when I had some business in the same building they share.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Might go to this next Thursday which is fiver Thursday if you book online. Cartoon Saloon is just around the corner from the cinema here in Kilkenny and there was a buzz there yesterday when I had some business in the same building they share.

There's an exhibition on at Kilkenny Castle, I think, with loads of stuff from the production of the film. Original sketches, storyboards all that kind of thing. I'm hoping to get down to see it at some point myself.

johnny_ultimate

Truly bewitching stuff. It's films like this that go to show what a waste the bland, cookie-cutter visuals of so much American animation really is. Tomm Moore and Cartoon Saloon apply a distinct visual signature to pretty much every frame, and the result is a film where you sometimes wish they'd linger longer on particular images just so you can appreciate the compositions and details more. Heck, even the very frames of the images often have delightful visual flourishes, such as a stylised spider web further complicating the already delightful symmetry of the scene in question. From memorably planimetric wide shots to surreal distortions of perspective and distance, a treat for the eyes this most certainly is - not to mention an ever-vivid colour palette and some of the most gorgeously exaggerated lighting the team could think up. Even Ghibli have rarely dabbled in art styles this distinct, although it's a beautiful companion piece for Princess Kaguya: both fresh and captivating reimaginings of classic folklore and art styles.

It helps too, that there's a soundtrack that complements both the film's look and story. This is an inventive clash of folklore and modernity, that draws on Irish history and mythology in a way that is utterly contemporary. The soundtrack negotiates the boundaries between trad and ethereal Celtic styles. Everything is drenched in a coat of fetching surrealism, and while the story itself deals with subjects and themes that are rarely new territory, the dreamy tone ensures everything feels fresh nonetheless.

Moore has a tendency to overplay the adorability factor for some characters, which isn't needed, and the ending particularly plays out in broad emotional strokes, even if it still manages to engage with the darker and less romantic themes bubbling underneath. Still, these feel like acceptable market compromises in an otherwise fiercely independent and unusual directorial vision. Most importantly it resists pandering or underestimating its audiences, and there are legitimate pleasures here for almost everyone: accessible enough to bewitch younger kids with the sufficient attention span, and formally imaginative enough to impress even the most hardened of cinephiles. While most mainstream animation is content to adhere to various formulae, Song of the Sea is blissfully handcrafted.

Tipsy McSwagger

https://twitter.com/kermodemovie/status/619880602842603520

CiDeRmAn

Just went to see it this evening.
My wife is a student of Irish mythology and it seems that Moore and his colleagues got it all spot on.
A beautiful film and deserves to be watched and loved for generations to come.
Only pity that the theatre in The Lighthouse was so empty.
It says something unfortunate that most cinemas had a screening of Minions after half six but only The Lighthouse had Song of the Sea on at a more adult viewing time.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes internationally, particularly if it gets a Japanese cinema release.

A special mention for the music, probably the best thing Kila have done in years, as collaborations go this is special, shall probably try and hunt down a physical copy of the soindtrack tomorrow.

Only slight downside initially was I couldn't get Moone Boy out of my head, but that soon dissipated.

Pat Shortt was doing a great Eddie Lenihan impression as the Seanachaí too!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ Don't know about Japan but it's been released in lots of other places months ago. We're practically the last to get it. I could have bought it on DVD a few months back if I'd wanted.

Mr E

I saw it over the weekend with my 8 year old nephew and 6 year old niece. The three of us were sniffling nicely by the end of it.

The 6 year old said it was the best film she'd seen this year. Good taste!

Wonderful film, I really loved it.

It'll probably be gone after a week, though.
There were only 7 people at the 6:30pm show on Saturday (while those little yellow bastards had a full screen next door).

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I assume the summer release here was to catch the school holidays or something but really bad timing going up against Minions and is Inside Out coming out soon too?

spurious

Loved it. Had a sort of a Soviet 70s animation feel about it (that's v good).

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Saw it today, can't add much more to what's already been said. Absolutely magical.

It's a real step up from The Secret of Kells. It's just as beautiful, visually, but the story is much stronger. The music and the visuals tie together so well and it's amazing to see Irish folklore presented on screen like that.

Little kids would enjoy it on a very basic level but for the older kids, and adults, it's quite a layered story, there's a lot going on there, the parallels between the story of the giant and the loss Ben's family suffer and the overall idea of grief and acceptance and family.

I've waited 6 years to see this and it was 100% worth the wait. I'm definitely buying the Blu Ray and I'm off right now to pre-order the "Art of..." book from Cartoon Saloon.

Lisha

Watched the secret of kells today. Really loved it and the kids did too. I'm really looking forward to seeing song of the sea next week now.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Will Collins, who did the screenplay for Song of The Sea, had another film released a few years ago that went by pretty unnoticed called My Brothers. The DVD release was the victim of some pretty shoddy and bizarre photoshop that makes it look like some cheap straight to DVD type of thing, but it's really worth tracking down, if you can.

Evac101

While I haven't watched this myself, all the film sources I regularly read/listen to have been exceedingly positive regarding this. In particular the Empire podcast (which seems to be a much more independent and much less 'shill'-y than the magazine) review stuck with me where they bemoaned that they couldn't give it more than 5 stars and described Tomm Moore and his colleagues as the Irish Studio Ghibli ^^

Sarxos

It's a beautiful and quite moving film. Sadly it charted at 6 in the Top 10 at the Irish box-office over the weekend. Minions made 9 times as much despite being out for 2 weeks already.

We need to get more people to see Song of the Sea at the cinemas.

Mickeroo

Saw it yesterday and thought it was brilliant, screen was practically empty though. Very annoying the latest showing is only 15:55 too, I'm sure it would have drawn a bit more people during the week if there were showings after people had finished work.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Mickeroo wrote: »

Saw it yesterday and thought it was brilliant, screen was practically empty though. Very annoying the latest showing is only 15:55 too, I'm sure it would have drawn a bit more people during the week if there were showings after people had finished work.

Yeah, it feels like it's been marketed at really small kids, not even tweens. I saw it mid week in the middle of the afternoon and I'd say there was about 20/25 people in the screen and most of them were mums or dads with kids who looked around 6/7.

OwaynOTT

Disappointing push by the Irish cinemas so. Do we really need showings of Antman,minions and terminator every 20 minutes and 3D versions as well hogging up another screen while this gem is buried beneath them.
To get me wrong I like Antman and some other big screen blowouts but cinemas need to diversify man.

Looper007

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Disappointing push by the Irish cinemas so. Do we really need showings of Antman,minions and terminator every 20 minutes and 3D versions as well hogging up another screen while this gem is buried beneath them.
To get me wrong I like Antman and some other big screen blowouts but cinemas need to diversify man.

Sadly it's never going to change as It's where these cinema's get their bigger audiences.

If this was under the Pixar label it would have got a longer run, sadly like a lot of great Irish and Indie work, it's lucky to get a week run in Cineworld and if it gets second its mind blowing. Even though it got Rave Reviews, at my screening on Saturday morning there were more Adults then kids (only one out of around 20 people). Anyway a wonderful Movie that everyone should see, full of heart and wonderful imagery. One of the best of the year.

Lisha

Saw song of the sea this morning. It is simply gorgeously beautiful. I loved it and my nearly 8year old boy and 5 yr old girl loved it too. It is a feast for the eyes, the ears and for the emotions.
We just loved it.

constitutionus

just back from this now.

EXCELLENT !

9/10 from me.

hmmned and haw'ed about going to see it for ages but man am i glad i went. truely beautiful enchanting and gently tragic film. its in a total different league to the films i usually go to see and it well deserves its oscar nomination.

cant recommend it enough.

e_e

Saw it on Sunday in the Lighthouse and there was a good crowd at it, bizarrely though it only played for a week in the smallest screen of the IFI.

Can't really add more that has already been said, it's a lovely film.

Welsh Megaman

Released on DVD and Blu-Ray here in the UK next Monday (9th.)