Thursday, March 18, 2010

Boston and Philadelphia

Folks if you are in either Boston or Philly tommorow night please come along and see The Secret of Kells , help us keep the film running for longer -we need a good opening night to see us thru'
I'll be at the Kendal in Boston to answer your questions after the screening!

heres another review from Philadelphia to encourage you along!

An animated medieval tale

There they were, the five Academy Awards nominees for best animated feature, announced back in early February: Pixar's Up, Disney's The Princess and the Frog, Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Henry Selick's Coraline and, and . . . huh? What's this? The Secret of Kells?

It turns out the Oscars' nominating committee had every reason to honor this dark horse, a little-known endeavor heretofore unreleased in the States. A beautiful, retro-style, hand-drawn feature from Ireland combining elements of 1950s and '60s Disney 'toons (geometric graphics, flat, painterly backgrounds) and traditional Celtic art (intricate, luminously colorful patterns), this spirited children's adventure set in the Middle Ages offers both visual and narrative thrills.

Drawing (so to speak) from fairy tales and illuminated medieval manuscripts, The Secret of Kells is about a young boy, Brendan (the voice of Evan McGuire), who lives in a fortified abbey under threat of invasion by Vikings. When master illuminator Brother Aidan (Mick Lally) arrives, he enlists Brendan to venture beyond the abbey's walls to collect oak berries in the forest, to use for ink in the scriptorium. This innocent-seeming mission turns into an epic quest involving magical fairies, a wolf-girl, and a cat with two different-colored eyes.

The Secret of Kells is gorgeous work, and its imagery and themes dovetail perfectly: a story about creating art, artfully created.

5 comments:

  1. Great review! I especially like the last line; a very nice summary of the film.

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  2. Great to meet you tonight, Tomm! Thanks again for the interview and the sketch!!

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  3. I hope you'll find a minute to also go over this review (http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=DAL81YD8U251&preview=article&linkid=8ae8863c-ed61-41d7-8cf1-fc2c6a6404ec&pdaffid=ZVFwBG5jk4Kvl9OaBJc5%2bg%3d%3d).

    In brief though, it simply confirms your review.

    MediaMentions
    :)

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  4. Hi - I met you Friday in Boston - I had the project on Macha that is now being resurrected because of you and your crew, their love and work and interest in these wonderful stories. I hope to talk to you again soon. I'm sending samples to cartoonsaloon re: illustration.

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  5. Tomm, thank you for a wonderful film! My wife and I just saw it last night in Philly. She wrote this review today:
    http://philadelphiapreservationsociety.blogspot.com/2010/03/searching-for-light-in-darkness-of.html
    We're going to try to steer as many of our friends as possible to see it while it's here.

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