The Eclipse

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.