The Eclipse

I never post movie reviews or blog about movies, but since I've been seeing so much hate on this website towards a really good film...I figure I'll give it a shot.

I saw this film at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, and it was, by far, the best movie at the whole festival. Before going in, all I knew was that The Eclipse was written and directed by playwright Conor McPherson. Not only does this film showcase McPherson's film-making talent, but it is also character actor Ciaran Hinds' first leading role--who ended up winning the Best Actor Award at the end of the TFF.

The film is a love story, a tragedy, and a little bit of a thriller. It blends all of these elements not only flawlessly, but effectively! You never know what to expect as each new scene unfolds, and as a result, every time you try to trust your sensibility towards cinema, the film does a 180º and we are suddenly in the middle of a horror film. If that's not engaging cinema, i don't know what is!

While I admit the "widowed father" set up is a bit tired, the film is so much better than that, and you sort of forget about that element once the film begins to move (unlike, The Boys Are Back).

Finally, with all of the elements considered, the film is a mere 88 minutes long. McPherson is able to mess with our sensibilities, throw in story elements from left and right, create fleshed out characters, and do it all within a small running time--the work of a true craftsman.

Ultimately, The Eclipse is a film that is not to be missed. Magnolia took their sweet time releasing this little gem, and I'm so happy to finally see it in limited release and OnDemand. I wish it would get the bigger treatment that it deserves, but if you can find it, by all means see it.

The Eclipse has lots of good things about it, but in the end, the pieces don't hold together. Part of the problem is the editing and writing. There are many long shots - beautiful - with the most peculiar music playing, a mixture of bad Benjamin Britten and Philip Glass, and it goes on and on, setting a vague, angsty, weird mood. The story is a wisp, and the writing, while good, doesn't fill the film. The interior sets as well as the gorgeous Irish country side are beautiful, but some scenes are so badly shot that you can hardly see what's going on.

I kept watching because - besides expecting a payoff - the acting and characters are appealing. Hinds is great - he holds a lot in, myriad emotions flicker across his face, he clearly has a large interior life. The female lead grew on me, although her character is odd and prickly. Quinn, fabulously good, plays a character who's just a plot device to get the others in the right places, but he's so vivid, full-realized, pathetic and despicable at the same time, that the plot should have served him better. When the three leads get together, the film changes, and it's charged, strong, unpredictable, real, surprising.

We care about the emotional subject - unresolved grief, the spiritually or psychologically open states we can find out selves in, and how to move on and in to our lives. But it's as if half the film got left on the editing floor - the half with more acting and less music. It's like there are holes in the movie, filled with music. I know there was more there, but we can't see it. Worth checking out anyway for the acting.

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.

A man is trying to hold his family together. He has suffered great loss. He is truly trying to get a handle on life but is plagued by ghosts. Whether they are real or not is not the issue. It ultimately doesn't matter. What we have here is a budding relationship with a fragile writer who begins to see him for the gentle soul that he is. While the writer's workshop he is assisting with goes on, he tries to keep his feet on the ground, despite his pain. He is accosted by a pretentious ass of a writer, greatly admired by the public, but incapable of an original idea. His audience are young, romance oriented women. The man turns to the young woman for aide in his struggles, but has no confidence in himself and sees himself as an intruder, taking advantage of her vulnerability. This is a quiet movie with bittersweet results. The children, especially, are multi-dimensional in their own struggles with mortality.

I recently saw this at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival. The story is loosely based on a short story by Billy Roche from his short story collection 'Tales from Rainwater Pond' and adapted for the screen by playwright/writer/director Conor McPherson. Set in Cobh County, Ireland, they are holding an annual literary festival and widowed father of two, Michael Far (Ciarán Hines) as a volunteer, has been assigned to drive several prominent novelists coming to the festival including reluctant attendee, supernatural novelist Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle) and an even more reluctant attendee in Nicholas Holden (Aiden Quinn). The married Holden and the single Morelle have had a romantic affair in the past. Holden and Far start off on the wrong foot while Morelle has an attraction to Far. Far's father-in-law is dying and Far has been seeing ghosts of those who are dead and those who are not yet dead. Nicely photographed by Ivan Reynolds there are a lot of interesting elements going on here but the story never seems to find itself on film. There are dramatic moments and some light subtle comedy but also some classic horror movie devices that seem out of place with the mood of the film. It almost ventures into being a psychological thriller and then pulls back. Quinn is a great actor but he's too over the top in this role. Hinds and Hjejle are in turn great but there is little on screen chemistry between them. There are many lose ends here that leave the audience scratching their heads and I don't think this film ever really finds its audience. I would give this a 6.0 out of 10.