The Eclipse (2010)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I'm always up for a ghost film, especially if it involves a gloomy, Gothic atmosphere and a remote, isolated location. The Eclipse doesn't disappoint. It's a hybrid film, a bit of romance, a good dose of loss-of- loved one melancholy, and a handful of jumpy ghost scenes. The characters are brought together through a literary festival, which also gives a generous dose of snark, mostly through Aidan Quinn's performance as a strangle- worthy author (a good role for this fine actor). The performances are all solid, but I especially enjoyed Ciarán Hinds as the lonely widower. The performance is so convincing--Hinds brings such genuine expression to this role, and it's a must-see for his fans. The film isn't going to satisfy hardcore ghost film or horror fans, but if you're into this type of contemporary Gothic film, it's certainly worth the time.

Dear Irish Film Board, the next time you feel you absolutely must include a love triangle in a (horror) drama, at least make sure you choose a woman that is worth fighting over and that the male audience can show interest in. The British Isles are famous for their gorgeous freckled women, so I really don't see why Iben Hjejle was cast to be anyone's love obsession, much less Aidan Quinn's, who I hear is quite popular with the ladies. She looks like Amanda Plummer, frcrissakes. Aidan Quinn gets a panic attack over her, then gets drunk coz she won't commit to him, and then into a fist-fight. Or did I just dream it all? Actually, as it turns out, she is Danish. (They have beautiful women too, so WTF.) Dear Irish Film Board, it's me again, the somewhat disgruntled viewer of your drama-pretending-to-be-also-horror-so-that-it-makes-more-cash, "The Eclipse". The actress Iben isn't even English, yet she was impersonating an English woman for the role. Why would you cast an unattractive Danish woman with a strange accent when you could have easily found a charismatic, sexy British lass with the proper accent for the role? Why do you hate your viewers so much? Why dabble in filmic black magic arts when you can have it straight-forward and effective?Why do some producers seem to believe that beautiful women don't belong in serious drama? Meryl Streep and Glenn Close are a staple of those. If you want more guys to see your darned chick-flicks, you might as well make a radical change in attitude, people.TE is a rather forgettable, pointless drama in which the ghosts pretty much suffer from extreme neglect. Their appearances, what few there are, serve as mere plot-devices to fuel the romance between a depressed widower and an ugly Danish actress with a damn unpronounceable name. All this, just so we can have that utterly predictable punch-up between the widower and Quinn at the end, in which – thankfully – Iben gets punched in the face as well. (And I attest to the fact that the hit actually improved her face somewhat.)

this movie may have had a point but it was so badly made it was lost on me. It didn't help that the story was all over the show. I have no idea what Adian Quinns part in all this was but he was an unappealing character drawn in cliché lines. Iben Hjejle's character was sort of interesting or heading towards it but never got there but at least she elicited more connection than Ciarán Hinds character who I really couldn't care less about. There were a couple of good scary moments in this film, but they were for absolutely no reason. Mybe the point of this movie was pointlessness, but that's not really a movie I want to spend time or money watching. Its one saving grace was its beautiful location and cinematography, which absolutely do NOT make a worthwhile watch.

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.