The Eclipse

"Then she knew. She knew that she was seeing a ghost, and she realized for perhaps the first time in her life, that she too would die. That her husband would die. And that her children would die. She knew in that moment, that she was looking at reality."

The Eclipse is a tough movie to describe. It's an odd Irish mixture of a supernatural thriller and a family drama, that is very slow-paced. The entire movie occurs in a relatively short time frame, and not much appears to "happen", though it really does.

Ciaran Hinds stars as a father of two who's recently lost his wife, and is charged with attending to a supernatural fiction writer (Iben Hjejle) who has come to Ireland for a literary festival. He begins to have either dreams or visions of his dead father (who's actually still alive), as he slowly draws closer to the female writer.

That's hardly a serviceable summary, but this movie is difficult to summarize. As I said, it's slow-paced; but that suits the movie. I never found it dull or boring. I can't really think of anything to compare it to. It's a very adult drama, that deals with death and loneliness without being depressing or sappy. Don't watch it expecting a horror movie, or a typical romance, or...well, the best thing to do would be to not expect anything specific, at all. Watch The Eclipse with a completely open mind. Be assured, though, that it has a lot to offer. It's one of the more "genuine" movies that I've seen in quite a while. Maybe once you've watched it, you can describe it better than I can.

There is a real magic in this film and I loved the pace and the charming simplicity. It's also unstintingly Irish and you feel that you are there in the thick of it all. I live in Canada but have been to Ireland twice and find the country to be full of intriguing paradoxes and ironies and quiet humour. You get a real feel for this in the film. I thought all three main actors were just brilliant especially Ciaran Hinds who played the part so naturally and so beautifully. I take my hat off to Aidan Quinn too who was a real sport and did an amazing job, Iben Hjejle was also great not to mention extremely attractive. In a film world constipated with so much doggerel, remakes and American action and teen movies, it makes a terrific change to see a movie that is refreshing and intelligent. The Irish, Australians and especially the British have a way with movie making that is so far and above the crap that comes from the US. Well done all who worked on The Eclipse, you should be proud.

I saw a sneak preview of The Eclipse in Boston and loved it, as did the enthusiastic audience judging by their laughter, gasps of surprise and final, sustained, applause.

The cast were excellent and the ensemble playing was uniformly real. Ciaran Hinds (There Will be Blood, Munich and Miami Vice) was at his best and I understood why he deserved the Best Actor award he won at the last Tribeca Film Festival.

Aidan Quinn (Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, Songcatcher and Empire Falls) was brilliantly playing against type and succeeded in being funny, vain and creepy at the same time. Aidan won the Best supporting Actor at the IFTAs this year.

Iben Hjejle, who was in Defiance,is beautiful and very striking; a welcome fresh face to English Cinema. She more than holds her own among seasoned professionals. I look forward to seeing her films.

The excellent script, by Conor and Billy Roche, took the best screenplay award at the IFTAs.

The Film opens very soon and I urge everyone to see it.

This chilling and thoughtful thriller from top Irish playwright McPherson exemplifies what movie makers who've earned their chops on the stage can bring to the big screen. The characters are three-dimensional; sharp, efficient dialog defines the relationships and moves the plot forward; life in a recently bereaved family, a small Irish town, and a literary festival is acutely observed.

The Eclipse maintains a spooky tension throughout and in a few instances will have you jumping out of your skin. (One minor criticism: Loud incidental music is constantly deployed to manipulate viewers, a perennial flaw of many mystery and horror films.) However, this is not a traditional ghost story but a psychological drama filtered through the perspective of the widowed father masterfully portrayed by Ciaran Hinds. It's probably not too much of a stretch to compare The Eclipse to In Bruges, the debut film of Martin McDonagh, another acclaimed U.K. dramatist, in the way it exploits the conventions of genre even as it defies formula to tell a more original, gratifying story.

A bonus: The cathedral-dominated town of Cobh, Cork County, provides a stunningly picturesque backdrop to The Eclipse, while adding to the overall isolated, claustrophobic atmosphere.

The acting in this movie is top notch and for that reason alone I stayed with this movie to the end. However, there are two main problems with this movie that made it a problem. One is that there isn't much plot. The other thing is the musical score. First, the plot (or lack thereof): The movie is described as a "supernatural thriller." This is not accurate. It is a drama about grief. There are several jump scares thrown in, but it's so tenuously tied to the plot that the movie would have been better without them. Now, the infernal musical score. Good heavens, the score is so irritating. It's so irritating that I'm commenting on it. I never comment on the musical scores of movies. The movie is littered with boy's choir music. Oh yes, of course, because there are cathedrals in the town. Good grief. I kept expecting for there to be a scene taking place IN one of the cathedrals b/c the score would lead one to believe that. But there aren't any scenes in any of the cathedrals. The other irritating thing about the score is the piano music that is employed during dramatic buildup. The same note is played over and over and over again. So annoying. The actors really are superb though. I would love to see them in some better material.