Two Irish movies that I love are about Selkies, the Seal People, and the myth of how if a man can find and keep a seal's skin while the seal is in human female form, she has to stay with him. Has anyone else seen "The Secret of Roan Inish" (parts filmed right outside my grandmother's house in Meenacross, Donegal!) and "The Seventh Stream?"
We just saw "The Seventh Stream" last night and it was very well done. The landscapes were awesome. I was quite disappointed that nowhere in the credits did they tell where it was filmed. I know it was the west coast of Ireland, but I'd love to know exactly where.
Best,
Mary Ellen

I did see "The Secret of Roan Inish" and loved it. Thanks for the tip about "The Seventh Stream". Is it a new "fil-m" or on DVD?
Did you ever see the film about the 2 little boys and the magic horse named Tir Na Nog (?SP?. Gabriel Byrne played the Dad. That was a good one as well. I wish I could remember the name of it....

Hi Jeri:
Oh yes. That was a powerful movie: "Into the West" is the title, I believe. (I don't want to go offline now as I may not get back on, the way my ISP has been behaving, but if I find I'm wrong, I'll be back with the right title.)

"The Secret of Roan Inish" is one of our all-time favorite films for many sentimental reasons. Besides being filmed where it was (Dad was in Ireland when they were filming it, and being himself, I'm sure he was there to offer as much unsolicited advice as they could stand.) When it came out on tape here, one of the sisters rented it and he spent an afternoon watching it with all his grandchildren. He may be gone now, but the cousins will never forget watching that movie with Pop-Pop.

I have been renting Irish films from Netflix, and plan to start doing reviews for our site. Irish film has really "taken off" in the past few years (much to my delight), and there's more out there now than just "The Quiet Man" and "Darby O'Gill and the Little People."

Some of the films are unfortunately plagued with bad soundmen. It's not just the accents, which at times are overly heavy, it's the quality of the sound, which is often impacted by the weather or background noise. I wish they would pay more attention to that, especially when they're enjoying international audiences. When you've got a heavy Dublin accent in a loud pub and bad sound, forget about hearing anything but the odd...um...slang. It's not all of them, but Colin Farrell comes to mind as one who could use a bit of advice on this subject. It's part of the charm when he's out on the town I'm sure, but when I've paid for a movie, I'd like to know what's going on. I don't have any trouble with accents, it's sound quality that puts me off. (Rant over.<G>)

The ability to search for Irish movies on Netflix, and get them, is a real asset as far as this company is concerned. There are a lot of movies that I love but don't own and the chance to watch them when I want is pure luxury. If you get a chance, try "The Field," "Da," for the heart; "The Magdalene Sisters" if you have a strong stomach for truth, and "My Left Foot" falls somewhere in between. The sad thing about "My Left Foot" is that the ending didn't turn out quite as they depicted in the movie, but I won't discuss that publicly.

I have a long list I'm waiting to see, so I'll let you know when I hit some good ones.

Good to hear from you,
Mary Ellen
P.S. Mind the troll <img src="/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

Not only did my family enjoy The Secret of Roan Inish, I ordered the soundtrack right after watching the film, & we highly recommend that too.

Excellent! I keep meaning to buy the movie for further viewings, but it would be nice to listen to in the car as well!
Good luck.

I LOVE The Secret of Roan Inish. It is a beautiful movie. I also love The Quiet Man (but then again I'm a big fan of both John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara), and Darby O'Gill.

I know that Gone With The Wind is not an Irish movie, per se, but it is about an Irish family which is also a Southern family, and it is my all-time favorite movie. When I saw the movie "Scarlet" that was the sequel to GWTW, I was livid...for two reasons. One, the way the English were behaving, and two, that they'd gone so far away from the feel of the original GWTW.

Brigadoon is a nice movie, too, but I believe it is Scottish. I like it anyway <g>. Afterall, my own personal melting pot is Scottish, too.

Thanks for the names of two movies I'd never heard of: The Seventh Stream and Into the West. I will have to see if we can find them around here.

Ireland in the Movies

Here's a link to the article that lists Irish movies. It's long, and it's not even complete, but it's a start in locating great films that have been shot in Ireland or are about Ireland.

I'm delighted that Ireland is putting out more films all the time, and that Irish actors, writers, filmmakers...are on the rise.

Some of the movies listed are quite different from what the world had come to expect from Irish film ("The Quiet Man" type) and are reflecting the current social changes. Great movies.

Thanks for the link, Mary Ellen. I don't know how I could have forgotten Braveheart on my list of favorites about that part of the world, as well as Rob Roy. Both great movies, and the lead actors didn't hurt matters either <g>.

All Things Bright and Beautiful sounds familiar, too. I'll have to look it up to see if it is one I've seen.

I reaize that it has no Selkies, but I continually enjoy (watch it alot these days) "The Matchmaker" (1997) which took place in a fictional village called Balle Na Gra. It is a sweet little story and the people in in reminded me - at least a few of the older characters in it - of older 'characters' in my family.

It stars Janeane Garofalo, Milo O'Shea, Dennis Leary and David O'Hara.
Apparently didn't do too well at the box office, never had a soundtrack released - trust me - I have done extensive searches for one and would be thrilled to find it if it existed - but the incredible music and visuals of the Irish landscape are truly worth the price of the DVD. It is literally a breath of Irish air each time I watch it.

To quote one film writer: "This movie will never win any awards for originality. The plot element of taking a big city dweller to a rural backward town or vice versa has been rehashed many times. (See 'DOC HOLLYWOOD') but it's still funny. This film DOES stand out from other romantic comedies, and the cinematography alone is worth the rental fee."

(One note - Rated R for language - obviously - to up the movie rating to 'R', they had to get creative, since the story isn't exactly "edgy" - so be aware that within ONE scene, the "F" word is bantered about roughly 22 times....the sheer number of times it is used makes it obvious and more ridiculously hilarious - at least to me, anyway.
If you are 'sensitive' to 'bad words" simply skip the scene where the senator takes Marcie's first call home from Ireland once in her hotel room, and you will be fine.)

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