Filmikaze!

By: Tomm Moore (director, writer), Nora Twomey (director), Fabrice Ziolkowski (screenplay)

Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Mick Lally, Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney

The animated story of the boy behind the famed Book of Kells.

What a strange and beautiful animated feature this was. Inspired by the real Book of Kells, one of the most elaborate and legendary illuminated manuscripts in existence, The Secret of Kells infuses Christian allegory with Celtic mythology and creates something glowing and timeless. The entire film is ethereal and entrancing, even for an agnostic like myself who puts very little stock in religious iconography. This didn’t feel like a religious film, it just felt golden and lovely.

The animation is extremely stylized. To me it was a marriage of medieval tapestry, stained glass art, Celtic imagery and the illustrations from the Book of Kells itself. Admittedly, there were a few moments wherein the film was so stylized that it was a tiny bit distracting, but that’s really the only negative thing I could possibly say about it. The art in this film is extraordinary and really must be seen to believed. If you’re used to the typical Disney-esque animated feature, this will blow your mind.