Cartoon Saloon's 2014 animation Song of the Sea was recently added to Netflix in the UK and it quickly shot to the top of my rewatch list. I watched it for the first time back when it first came out (nearly ten years ago I've just realised!) and found it to be a beautifully made, heartfelt animated film. Upon rewatch, I loved it even more.
The animation style is even more gorgeous than I remembered, incorporating watercolours that bleed together and hand-drawn details that convey a charming sense of magic and whimsy. The music is similarly beautiful, forming an important part of the Irish Folklore-inspired story. In particular, this is a movie about selkies, a mythological creature that can shapeshift between human and seal.
My favourite scene in the film is our first glimpse into Saoirse's transformation:
In some ways, there's little to be said about the scene other than the fact that it's just really magical.
It's beautifully evocative and sweeping in a way that so many family films struggle to capture. The little girl here, Saoirse, is a character who doesn't speak for the majority of the movie, which means all of her personality is conveyed without dialogue. Her older brother, Ben, resents her because her birth coincides with the day that their mother died and, even with a largely silent character, it's hard not to immediately root for the two siblings to grow closer because of the amazing job the animators do in giving Saoirse a likeable personality without any words needed.
Her wonder at discovering the selkie coat is incredibly sweet, and there's such a pure magic to the way the sparks of light and the (very cute) seals beckon her into the ocean for her first transformation. What follows is a stunning swim through the blue ocean, accompanied by Bruno Coulais' enchanting score.
I've previously written about this sort of sequence before, for example with My Neighbor Totoro's rain scene and Spirited Away's train ride; some of my favourite moments in animation are these wordless sequences, allowing the viewer to really take in the sheer artistry of what the filmmakers have crafted.
In addition, Song of the Sea also conveys the Irish mythology that it is inspired by brilliantly, making you feel as though you're listening to a childhood fairytale huddled around a campfire with a hot chocolate. Movies like The Tale of the Princess Kaguya similarly use a painterly style to evoke mythology, but Cartoon Saloon's house style - seen also in their critically acclaimed films Wolfwalkers, The Bread Winner and The Secret of the Kells, as well as most recently in 'Screecher's Reach' their short film as part of the brilliant Star Wars: Visions series - makes for a truly unique world and atmosphere.
What's really impressive about a sequence like this is the way you can watch it without any context needed. Everything you need to know - about the world, the character, the story - is conveyed only through the visuals and sound, though of course it is part of a wider story about grief and love. I can't wait to see what the studio do next.
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