Dorothy_Langman The Eclipse. A very fine performance from Ciaran in this film. This is smart, scary and thought-provoking... Don't watch it on your own..you will 'jump' when you least expect it.Having viewed The Eclipse, I felt myself wanting to watch it again...There is so much' going on, which 'jolts' the viewer that you hardly have time to articulate what has occurred. Ciaran Hinds effectively gets 'inside' his character, Michael Farr, demonstrating his anguish, loss and vulnerability. The 'fight' scene with Aidan Quinn is brutal in its' exposition with Ciaran 'holding back' and then 'letting go' and is perhaps a metaphor for much of what is happening in the story. We see Farr 'on a journey', culminating in a possible new connection/relationship? Yet, had resolution occurred? The viewer has to seperate reality from imagination. Has Farr's grief pushed him to the edge? Is what he is 'seeing' real or locked in his psyche? This is a thought provoking film which makes you consider the possibilities. On a lighter note,one thing we can be certain of is that, yes, Aidan Quinn does have vivid blue eyes...but does Ciaran Hinds know he has the most beautiful hazel-green eyes, a girl could lose herself in?Melies D'Argent Award for Best European Film Best Film & Best Screenplay Awards 2010 Irish Film & Television Academy Award Best Actor Award for Ciaran Hinds 2009 Tribeca Film Festival Best Supporting Actor Award for Aidan Quinn 2010 Irish Film & Television Academy AwardsHighly Recommended

Robert J. Maxwell A curious movie in which Ciaran Hinds, a recent widower with two young children, begins to have experiences that involve ghosts of people he knows or, in one case, a soon-to-be ghost. The visions or whatever they are tend to occur at night but are terrifying.The story takes place in the Irish city of Cobh, where a writer's festival is taking place. (Yes, in Ireland, at least, serious writers are still taken seriously.) Hinds is hired as a limo driver and guide for a young British blond,Iben Hjejle, who is desperately trying to shed herself of the attentions of a self-indulgent American writer and former lover, Aidan Quinn.With no one else to turn to, and in anguish, Hinds befriends Hjejle and tells her of his visions. Hinds has also written some stories about ghosts, autobiographical we presume, and Hjejle takes his manuscript to London with her, after leaving Hinds with a warm good-bye kiss and inviting him to visit her at any time.It has a few shocking moments, not particularly well done. But it's an adult movie, in no way insulting, with some agreeable directorial touches, good performances, and fine casting. Hjejle is attractive without being a glamorous young sexpot. And Ciaran Hinds has the face of Humphrey C. Earwicker, the face of everyman. He looks as if he'd just stepped out of a factory that made toothpaste tubes.It's neatly photographed, it captures Ireland's rainy temperament, and has several other virtues but it's sluggish, a kind of slice of life, in which events take place deliberately but accidentally, the way they do in reality. They don't rush after one another as they do in most films. I doubt that it will appeal to everyone but if you have patience and time, you should find this an interesting diversion.

Lee Eisenberg During the past few years, Ireland has largely made news due to its economic collapse. But one of the other things to come from the Emerald Isle was Conor McPherson's odd movie "The Eclipse". It focuses on a recently widowed man (Ciarán Hinds) who starts seeing eerie things while developing a relationship with a writer (Iben Hjejle). I should say that the movie has an overall interesting plot, contrasting the man's eerie visions with his struggle with an obnoxious author (Aidan Quinn) for the writer, but has sort of a vague, abrupt conclusion. As with a lot of thrillers, it seems like the sort of movie that they probably made knowing that it wasn't going to be any kind of groundbreaking movie. Still, a few scenes are certain to make you jump!

lewiskendell "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.