In Contention

Tag: Tomm Moore

  • 3D effects for ‘Secret of Kells’ follow-up?

    (Earlier, this story accidentally credited the incorrect source — apologies to Brendon Connelly and /Film UK.)

    Following his surprise Oscar nomination for “The Secret of Kells,” which only recently landed in U.S. theaters, Irish animator Tomm Moore is already deep into his follow-up, “Song of the Sea.”

    The film, which should go into production later this year, will be another excursion into Irish folklore, this time taking the mythical Selkie creatures — also the subject of John Sayles’s 1995 film “The Secret of Roan Inish,” if memory serves — as its inspiration.

    Most intriguing is Moore’s admission that he is “experimenting” with 3D stereo effects within his handdrawn 2D aesthetic, though he makes no promises that they’ll turn up in the final film. After the cut, meanwhile, a conceptual trailer for “Song of the Sea” promises more of the stylized stained-glass visuals that so impressed the Academy’s animation branch. (Thanks to /Film UK’s Brendon Connelly for the link.)

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  • SANTA BARBARA: ‘Kells’ screens and the writers talk

    The Secret of KellsIt’s been a slow ramping up for me in Santa Barbara, coverage wise.  I’ve had some Wi-Fi difficulties that are being sorted and I’ve posted when I can from where I can, but a couple of notes on the last two days.

    Yesterday I took in a late afternoon screening of Tomm Moore’s “The Secret of Kells,” the film that probably served up the biggest surprise last Tuesday when it slid into the animated feature field over the populist, branch-respected “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and the less-respected “Ponyo,” which nevertheless comes from a titan of the medium.

    The film is beautiful in so many ways, offering a rich, artistic palette of shapes and color to paint a portrait of a well-circulated Irish story revolving around the non-fictional Book of Kells.  The artwork ultimately mirrors, in some way, the Insular art featured in the book, and the narrative itself, abstract as it feels at times, seems to be about the persistence of art and history.

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