Roan Inish is a beautiful tale of a lovely legend, of love and seals and, instead of giving up your hopes, of giving them a chance to come true.

| May 11, 2021

I wish I liked it more, but there's more than whiff of worthy Irish heritage in the air, and the story drifts all over the place. I'm afraid I kept drifting off as well.

| Nov 27, 2017

...a story about storytelling, and how folk tales and real life can intermingle.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 18, 2014

The rhythms are placid and the camerawork (by Haskell Wexler) is simple and unfussy. The film's a charm.

| May 3, 2013

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 7, 2011

It's family entertainment in the best sense of the term.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 11, 2008

John Sayles' latest marks his entry into family-pic terrain, a crossing that draws pleasant but unexciting results.

Full Review | Mar 11, 2008

Moving from passion fish to mystical seals, versatile filmmaker John Sayles' latest is a first-rate, all-ages fairy tale steeped in Irish folklore.

Full Review | Mar 11, 2008

This is all rather low-key and uninsistent, but the settings are gorgeous, and Haskell Wexler's cinematography makes the most of them.

| Mar 11, 2008

One of his most accomplished movies, this is Sayles' corrective fable to a genre thas has favored male protags, exploring another outsider character, a young girl alone in the world.

| Original Score: A- | Jan 31, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 3, 2006

Tales within tales, a subtle sense of economic and social realities, fine landscape photography and strong performances make for an engrossing, unusual fantasy.

| Feb 9, 2006

One of Mr. Sayles's artistic strengths (and commercial liabilities) is his refusal to make movies that knock you over the head with larger-than-life characters and emotions.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Mar 19, 2005

Lyrical and lovely.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 23, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 30, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 1, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 21, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 22, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 1, 2003