HBN!: The Secret of Kells
Previously, I discussed Being John Malkovich, an oddball film available on Netflix’s instant streaming service. This week’s selection is The Secret of Kells, a wonderful animated movie that combines Irish-Christian history with a touch of fantasy.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or suggest a Netflix instant streaming film that you’re curious about but would never, ever watch. (I’ll do that for you.)
If you’re familiar with medieval art, then you probably know about the Celtic monks and their lavishly decorative Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript originating circa the year 800. The Gospel book is considered Ireland’s most precious and renowned treasure.
The Secret of Kells—released in 2009 and directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey—weaves a fictional story around the book’s factual origins, using an ornate and imaginative visual style to captivate readers and tell the tale. The film’s animation changes and evolves as much as the book itself, which a monk named Brother Aidan brings from the secluded island of Iona to the abbey of Kells, hoping to protect it from Viking plunderers. Brendan, the young nephew of the monastery’s stern Abbot Cellach, expresses an interest in the sacred book and begins helping Aidan design its pages.
Against his uncle’s wishes, Brendan passes beyond the abbey walls and sneaks into the surrounding forest in search of berries that can be made into multi-colored ink. Soon lost among the trees, Brendan befriends a mysterious girl with supernatural powers who claims the forest as her own.
Ashley’s forest is wondrously beautiful, but in its depths lies the cave of the Dark One, a pagan beast known as Crom Crauch. Brendan learns that in order to paint smaller, more extravagant designs on the book’s pages, he must peer through a crystal known as the Eye of Collum-Cille—an eye that belongs to the forest monster.
Watching The Secret of Kells is an enchanting visual experience brushed lightly with humor and charm. The animation is clever as well as enjoyable, mimicking the intricate pages of the book, which Aidan and Brendan must keep safe from enemy hands. The music serves the movie well, too, giving it a boost of Irish flair.
Art enthusiasts will love the attention to historical detail, a credibility that underlies the movie without overriding its creativity. There’s much to discover in The Secret of Kells—and that cat is just too damn cute.
Watch the theatrical trailer below.
Eager to impress Maxine, the two begin cashing in on their new office discovery, and customers start lining up for a fifteen-minute peek into John Malkovich’s life. Everyone wants a taste, including Craig’s wife, who reacts euphorically to the experience. Being John Malkovich, it seems, has that effect on people. At the same time Lotte decides she’s transsexual, Maxine starts having sex with the popular actor—as long as Lotte’s the one pulling his strings. Wanting Maxine’s attention for himself, the odd new relationship between Lotte and Maxine enrages Craig, and each fights for a bigger chunk of Malkovich.
The movie’s frights work on two levels: the obvious, Regan under the influence of the devil, and the not so obvious, all the weird shots and camera zooms in between—not to mention Captain Howdy. (Go ahead, Google it. You’ve been warned.) Sure, Linda Blair spewing backwards English and pea soup vomit all over priests (Jason Miller as Father Karras and Max von Sydow as Father Merrin) does constitute most of the very gross appeal. Some moments are downright offensive, like the scene with the crucifix and the vandalized Virgin Mary statue. The director doesn’t hesitate to make a monster out of little girl.
Fans of the comic books will see this twist coming a mile away. It’s there, lit up by the Gotham City PD spotlight, bright yellow against the cloudy night sky. But the real surprises of this film arise in how graphic and mature its content actually is, and how well it’s handled.
Some time later, a psychiatrist named Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) visits Crawford, who was tossed in a mental institution after making outlandish claims of head-eating demons and creepy crawly things. Katherine, who implements a bold new approach in dealing with schizophrenics (aka not condemning them to a vegetable state through intense drug and electroshock therapy), negotiates Crawford’s freedom under one condition: She wants him to repeat and relive the experiment that caused his breakdown.
