O Brilho da Vida

A shy, stuttering 8-year-old boy moves from the orphanage he's lived in since the death of his grandmother to an Irish island with his adoptive, free-spirited woman and her cold, silent husband. The story that unfolds is about both the boy and the husband coming out of their shells and learning to express and value what's important in their lives.

THE GOOD: The performances of every single actor in the film stand out. Particularly the child actors do an extraordinary job. The emotional fabric of the film is wonderful. You have to be touched if you have any emotions at all! The cinematography is jaw-dropping-gorgeous, owing mostly to the beautiful Irish setting.

THE BAD: There's no way around the simplicity of the script; you know everything that's going to happen long, long before it actually happens. In most films, this would be crippling; however, here it doesn't really matter because the story's about the characters, not the plot.

THE VERDICT: Heart-warming, beautiful, emotional, and family-friendly. You should most certainly watch this.

I give this movie a "10" on the cinematography alone, but it's so much more than that. The story is heartwarming, directing is perfect, acting is superb (even young John Bell in what is likely his first role), and the musical score is worth purchasing on its own. Loved every piece of it.

The story centers around an orphan (Bell) who is adopted by a beautiful and 'colorful' Irish woman (Connie Nielson, an actress new to me but I will definitely look for her again) and her reluctant husband (Quinn, an A-list actor who never ever disappoints) and whisked off to picturesque Corrie Island in County Donegal. The film tugs at your heart without being maudlin or without even a hint at 'over-acting,' so common in movies about orphans. (Kudos to the director.)

I cannot recommend this film highly enough and am shocked that I had never heard of it before renting it on a lark.

Yes , Vic Sarin's "A Shine of rainbows" is a rather predictable film.A brief synopsis of the film would be..A shy young boy (John Bell) get adopted by a beautiful and kind hearted woman (The beautiful Connie Nielsen) ,she loves him ,her husband (Aidan Quinn) is disappointed that the boy seems too fragile , they have a hard time connecting until a turn of event makes them realize they need each other. ..But predictable in this case is not such a bad thing when it is so well directed,acted and overall put together. The threesome of main actors are just perfectly cast. John Bell as Tomás is particularly touching , you seriously root for the kid and from the first scene you automatically care for the character , he gives an outstanding performance for his young age. Connie Nielsen as Maire is mesmerizing , she embodies the sort of woman men dreams of having as a wife and children dreams of having as a mother and Aidan Quinn deliver a strong and subtle performance as Alec. The stories pulls all you heartstrings without ever feeling like it's trying too hard to moves the audience.All the emotions on display in that films comes naturally,there is nothing calculated about it and thank the lord that stops the film from ending up like a lifetime TV movie of the week with a bigger budget. The only negative point I would give the film is the baby Seal Tomas befriend, it is quite obvious its a robot and those scenes are distracting and feel out of place but thankfully those scenes are shorts and do not in any way ruin the rest of the film. What I am shocked is how little fanfare this film has received , by the time I write this review only six other reviews were posted...six!! I am sad that a beautiful family film like this one who came out a couple of years ago don't get noticed as it should when films like "The smurfs" who were just out in the cinemas seems to be the talk of all IMDb, as moviegoers gone insane? I could not recommend this films more , it deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.It's a little gem!

I LOVED this love story. Its rare that a movie fully captures the love of a parent and child so fully but this one did. I caught it on cable the other day and did not expect to be so moved.The actor who plays Tomas is simply astounding. His eyes convey more emotion than any adult actor I've seen in the last year. Connie Nielson, who I've only seen in Gladiator and LO-SVU, is gloriously heartbreaking in her maternal love. Aiden Quinn is excellent as the Dad who was expecting another type of child. There is not a false note in the entire movie. While the plot had no real surprises, the unfolding of the story was just beautiful. As an added bonus, the countryside is breathtaking. Highly recommend this film.

However, that said, I wouldn't call this entertainment. A small boy growing up in a catholic orphanage, clearly has a problem with men, which isn't likely to be surprising given what the so called men of the cloth used to get up to! A woman comes along to adopt the little boy and it develops from there. The "winners" are the child who play the boy and the scenery, some of which is northern Ireland (shots of glenluce). you may not watch this more than once and Im trying to avoid "spoilers" but its quite different from most films that have been on this Christmas and there are solid performances within it