Skellig (known in North America as Skellig: The Owl Man) is a 2009 British fantasy drama film directed by Annabel Jankel, and starring Tim Roth and Bill Milner. The screenplay by Irena Brignull is based on David Almond's novel of the same name.
Plot
Michael Cooper, a boy, moves with his parents and newborn sister to an decrepit house. Michael feels pushed out by them, while they accompany their daughter. Michael enters the garden shed. While looking around the gloomy and uninhabitable place, he meets Skellig. Louise has been occupied for premature labour. Michael helps by calling an ambulance, but blames himself. Louise sends the girl to a hospital some time later. Dave plans to remove the old shed. The girl becomes sick with a potentially fatal heart problem. Michael meets and befriends a girl named Mina. Louise blames Dave for moving into the house. Dave starts to thump the shed. He goes to look for matches. Michael and Skellig leave the shed and move to the woods near Mina's house, where he shows her his burned hand. Michael and Mina take Skellig to a tall tower and examine his owl wings. They hold hands with him and fly mystically around in a circle. It is revealed that Skellig can perform magic as Michael's hand is cured. Michael talks to Grace, an old lady whom he talks to every time he is at the hospital to visit with the new baby. He promises her that he will visit her. The next day when the baby goes in for the operation, he goes to visit Grace, but she died in her sleep the night before. He runs to Skellig and tells him to cure the girl like his hand. To prove that he can heal her, Michael jumps off the tower, but Skellig saves him and tells him to fall asleep while flying and he does. Skellig goes to the hospital unnoticed and walks into the baby's room. Skellig picks the girl out of her cot and does as before: flies off the ground and spins around as she lies sleeping in his arms. This miraculously cures the baby, much to the family's delight. When Michael asks their name, they tell him that cannot find the right one, and he names her Grace. The family return to the house where her room is bright yellow and Dave works on it while Grace was in hospital. (The baby is named Joy after William Blake's poem in the novel) Skellig accompanies Michael and Mina at the tower.
Production
Skellig was part of Sky 1's plan to invest £10 million in producing three new high-definition dramas. Filming started on 2 September 2008 in Caerphilly in Wales with scenes shot in and around Cardiff, Wales. Cast members included Oscar-nominee Tim Roth in the title role and Bill Milner as Michael Cooper with Skye Bennett as Mina, Kelly Macdonald and John Simm as Michael's parents (Louise 'Lou' and Steve Cooper). The film was scripted by Irena Brignull and directed by Annabel Jankel. The film aired on Sky 1 on 12 April 2009.
My Review
Recipe for a good movie. First, as the base, you take an award winning novel, two awards in this case are better than one, then you add a generous portion of creativity, from Brignull and Jankell you could hardly expect anything less, and finally you throw in the right amount of great talent which the casting people (whoever was responsible) were not stingy about doing. Follow this process and you get a good movie. I did not specify what kind, genre or type of movie because the formula should work with just about all types.
In this case it's about a fantasy/mystery/social drama kind of movie, not at all what attracts the general population of moviegoers. Some movie connaisseurs will find it hard to resist one of the elements of this recipe and if the critics favour the result, then more movie lovers will care to give it a look. Finally when you add the reviews of all those that have seen the movie and like it, you will get a good rating; (44.4% had rated it 8 or more, at the time I wrote this review), which in turn will hopefully attract more and more viewers.
That's not at all why I watched it or why I liked it or even why I'm recommending it by giving it a really good rating. I am a fan of Tim Roth, have been for some time. I am a fan of Kelly Macdonald, just recently since I watched the HBO series 'Boardwalk Empire'; she caught my attention in that series, thus I've been looking for projects where she plays a role and so I stumbled on this fine movie.
Roth and Macdonald play their characters as well as you'd expect, certainly as well as I expected. Bill Milner was the surprise for me as the main and most important part in the movie is played by this fourteen year old. His character is the thread that binds all the parts of this movie and he pulled it off like a pro.
I love all kinds of Fantasy films, and probably always will. At the end of this movie I felt good about life just a little bit more and for a fleeting moment. Whatever your reasons are for watching it, the right recipe or the right set of circumstances, in either case, don't miss it. If on the other hand you don't believe the recipe has merit, don't agree with the talent I referred to or are not a fan of any of the key actors, you won't like this movie; also if you have little time to spare and only get to watch a few movies now and then and require a sure mass entertainment product, stick with the tried and true candy-ass movies you always watch and you won't go wrong. 6.9/10!
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