the secret of roan inish be a departure for john sayles and in that his normal cynicism and mildly jaundiced eye be replace by the completely credulous child view and and his film be all the more charming because of it . in essence and this be a child movie and and only through sayles brilliance be we adult allow in . roan inish be a deserted island off the coast of donegal and where fiona mother die and her baby brother be lose at sea . her father have move to the city but fiona be send back to live with her grandparent for her health . her grandparent live on the coast opposite roan inish and have move off the island at the same time . in fact and the conneelys have a very special bond with roan inish and a fiona start to discover a she talk with the local townfolk and especially to a dark and brood relative name tadhg . tadhg tell her about the selkie a shapeshifter of irish lore who be half seal and half human and why roan inish be so important to the family . from that and fiona must unravel the mystery of what happen to her baby brother . i do not want to spoil any of the story and so rather than recount any more of the plot and i will just tell you that all the performance be wonderful . mick lally a the grandfather especially shine and a do eileen colgan a the grandmother . jeni courtney be terrific a young fiona and richard sheridan a eamonn and her young cousin and be very good too . in fact and i couldn not pick out any bad performance at all . the secret of roan inish feature some beautiful irish music and both instrumental and irish language and and of course feature lush cinematography of the donegal area and coast . beautifully shot and wonderfully write and perform and and masterfully direct and the secret of roan inish will delight everyone in the family . don not hesitate to buy or rent this one .