Ondine (2009)

An Irish fisherman finds a mysterious woman in his net. His daughter believes the woman is a silkie, a mythical creature who takes the form of a seal and also a woman. 

    This is a rather sweet movie. It uses a very interesting concept to explore what truth is and its mystery keeps you watching. However, I felt it could have been a lot more powerful, and where it fell short is the acting. 

     The main problem I have is the casting of the daughter. She is supposed to be the wonder aspect of the movie, she is the character who drives the fairy-tale of the plot as she becomes convinced this strange woman is a silkie. The actress is sweet to look at, but she is very limited both in her voice dynamics and expressions. If she had inspired tears, the movie could have been much better. Also, I thought Colin Farrell could have improved his diction, he once again proved himself to be the least understandable Irishman EVER, his accent is so thick and so soft it's nearly impossible to hear about 40% of his lines. Other than that, he was decent. The Polish actress who played Ondine had the easiest role, I felt, she just had to look mysterious and alluring, and she did. Kudos to her. 

    The story was good. There were a couple of rather baffling moments, where we ask ourselves: why is this happening? Also, a couple of plot holes. To describe them would be to give the ending away. 

   All in all, this was a good movie, a lot better than most of the romance movies in theaters now, it's very classy, very beautiful, and it doesn't rely on formulaic funny moments or overdone plot twists, whatever surprises we find in the film were set up long before they happen, and so they make sense.