Film: A Shine Of Rainbows
Release date: 14th March 2011
Certificate: U
Running time: 101 mins
Director: Vic Sarin
Starring: Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn, John Bell, Jack Gleeson, Tara Alice Scully
Genre: Drama/Family
Studio: High Fliers
Format: DVD
Country: Canada/Rep of Ireland
This is an English-language release.
Vic Sarin’s Irish family drama, A Shine Of Rainbows, has received notable recognition on the International Film Festival circuit. The screen adaptation of Lillian Beckwith’s novel of the same name has picked up numerous awards, including the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature at both the 2009 Heartland Film Festival in Indiana and the Ibiza International Film Festival.
Tomás (John Bell) is an 8-year-old boy residing in a dull and hostile orphanage in Ireland. He is bullied by his peers and his outlook on life is bleak. However, Tomás’ life is dramatically changed when he meets Maire O’Donnell (Connie Nielsen; Gladiator, One Hour Photo), a beautiful and charming woman adorned in brightly coloured clothing. Maire, unable to have children of her own, takes Tomás away from the city orphanage to her home on the wonderfully scenic Corrie Island, where she lives with her bearded and somewhat intimidating husband, Alec (Aiden Quinn; Legends Of The Fall, Unknown).
Tomás warms immediately to Maire, who teaches him that happiness can be found in the simplest of life’s experiences, such as talking to sea lions and splashing around in puddles. Alec, however, is less forthcoming in his efforts to bond with Tomás, and cannot hide his disappointment that Maire did not choose a more physical and boisterous child to adopt.
Nevertheless, Tomás soon makes Corrie Island his home, making friends with local siblings Seamus and Nancy and experiencing what Corrie Island has to offer. Tomás gradually develops a relationship of sorts with Alec, and the pair decide to care for a sea lion pup that is stranded on the beach.
However, Tomás’ attempts to build a relationship with Alec suffer when things take a turn for the worse, and with Alec delaying signing the adoption papers, Tomás’ time on Corrie Island could soon be brought to an end. Only by listening to the words of Maire, and sharing her uniquely positive approach to life, will Tomás discover where he truly belongs…
It is difficult to see how Nielsen and Quinn, both talented and established actors, would take on their roles in this production having read the script. The storyline is so thin on the ground that it is almost non-existent, and whilst there are certainly some important life values to be shared with the younger members of the audience, it is unlikely that they will be captivated for long enough to actually learn them.
The first half of the film is spent observing a frustratingly shy and almost ill-mannered Tomás, as he becomes used to his new life on Corrie Island. As you would expect with a family film, there are some quite charming, if not cringe-inducing moments between Tomás and Maire as the pair bond, and we notice Tomás’ outlook on life changes for the better. Maire teaches Tomás about the magical folklore with which the Island is laced - the joys of playing in the rain and the divine nature of rainbows. Unfortunately, whilst it is admirable of Sarin to try and show his audience that joy can be found in the most obvious places or mundane tasks, jumping in puddles and feeding chickens, neither advances the plot nor entertains the audience.
Alec, on the other hand, does not gel with Tomás quite so easily, and he makes it clear to Maire that he is unhappy with her selection of such a weak and timid child, who stutters whenever he converses with Alec. This scenario in itself is difficult to relate to, as it requires the audience to simply accept that Maire has gone to the city on her own and handpicked a child to bring back to the family home, without first meeting him, and with absolutely no input from or consultation with her husband.
Certainly, the prominent themes and values of the production are so patent that the audience will feel as though they have been slapped across the face with a big sack of morals, but the storyline itself is bland and rarely engaging. The film offers up one or two sub-plots that serve to mildly interest the audience, but these are so brief and under-developed that they become merely incidental to the main plot. One example of such is when Tomás cares for an abandoned sea lion, which has been left on the shore by its family. Tomás is told that this is to ensure that the sea lion is tough enough to survive at sea, and the plot serves as a parallel to that of Tomás’ trials on Corrie Island. Unfortunately, this story is only lightly touched upon, and the sea lion itself is so noticeably an animatronic prop that it takes much away from the sentiment which is sought.
It would be unfair, however, to say that the film is wholly bad, and Sarin has utilised the talent at his disposal well to aid him in his feature. Nielsen is excellent as Maire, and captures every quality of the character that is required to make her both credible and likeable. Her mothering of Tomás is incredibly natural, and the younger audience will undoubtedly warm to her colourful and caring nature.
Quinn, too, is well cast as the stony and disappointed Alec, and certainly the audience will empathise with Tomás in respect of his precautionary approach towards Alec. That said, there is very little for Quinn to actually do in order to make his character a success. Quinn’s natural appearance aids him in his task, with his piercing eyes giving the audience some insight into his character, permitting his bearded face to remain largely expressionless throughout.
John Bell, unlike Quinn and Tomás, was a newcomer on the scene and the result of a wide search by John and Ros Hubbard, the casting directors. The pair, renowned for discovering such young talent as Kate Winslet and Colin Farrell, clearly had their work cut out with the part of Tomás, as he is not a simple character to portray. Tomás essentially has two sides to his character during the film; the coy, bullied orphan with nobody to care for him, and the blissful, colourful son with a new found appreciation for the simplest things in life. Bell, therefore, has the difficult task of depicting a boy with two very contrasting outlooks towards life and people, often both in the same day of filming. Unfortunately, whilst Bell excels in certain aspects of his performance, on the whole it is somewhat patchy and lacks authenticity.
Bell should certainly be given credit for his performance in the latter stages of the film, following a dark turn in the plot, as he draws the audience into the most engaging scenes of the production. Regrettably, his portrayal of a stuttering and withdrawn Tomás is rather awkward and uncomfortable to endure, and audiences will struggle to empathise with the character early on in the film.
Both Nielsen and Quinn stated that their reasons for taking their respective roles in this production were that they wanted to be part of something that their own children could watch, and their heartfelt performances do undoubtedly increase the quality of the feature. Nevertheless, the film still suffers from a distinct lack of quality in other aspects of production, and more importantly, the root material upon which the screenplay is based.
The visual effects and wardrobe serve as further evidence of the film’s inferiority in comparison to better known Hollywood productions. Dermot Shane of Sepia Films was the Visual FX Supervisor on A Shine Of Rainbows, and while his experience leads to some of the effects being implemented very professionally - in that they go largely unnoticed and blend nicely with the scenic backdrop - others, such as the CG rainbows and the robotic seal, are blatant and amateurish.
Sarin’s use of colour in the film serves to illustrate how Tomás’ life changes emotionally from the moment he meets Maire. When the film commences, Tomás is being bullied by some of the other children at the orphanage, and the audience immediately takes onboard the sense of loneliness and unhappiness which Tomás feels. The institution itself, however, along with the clothes worn by everybody present, is so overtly dark and drab that it is almost embarrassing when we are presented with Maire in her brightly coloured clothing. As the film progresses and Tomás becomes more outgoing and fond of his new home, the use of colour becomes more evident. Sarin uses colour as a tool to emulate Maire’s personality, and to symbolise the pleasures of life itself. When the film takes a tragic turn, the use of colour quickly fades, and dark clothing and bad weather become the prominent features of each scene.
Such use of colour, as a means to portray emotion, personality and circumstances, is something that is done regularly within the film industry, but typically with more subtlety. The contrasting use of colours and dark tones is a technique which can certainly affect the audience’s outlook towards different scenarios, but the contrasts made by Sarin are so excessive and obvious that it borders on condescending.
A Shine Of Rainbows is an admirable attempt at a heart-warming, family film, which imparts some important values upon the audience. Fortunately though, these same values can be learnt from much more entertaining and high quality films, with similarly talented casts, yet far more substance. TMO
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