This movie manages to be a really satisfying love story and an absolutely terrifying ghost story all at once. The criminally underrated Ciaran Hinds (who won the Best Actor Award at the Tribeca Film Festival for this) plays a woodwork teacher who has recently been widowed. He is bringing up his two kids and trying to get on with his life, but he is experiencing strange paranormal events. I won't give anything away but the movie leaves it to the viewer to decide if these are real ghosts or a result of his own internal journey to resolution. He meets a writer of horror novels called Lena Morelle (played by the really likable Iben Hjelje - remember her in High Fidelity?) when he volunteers at a local literary festival. He shares his experiences with her as their relationship develops, but she has to contend with another writer (a brilliant Aidan Quinn) who has come to the festival to re-ignite an affair they had in the past. The drama plays out against the backdrop of a beautifully shot Irish coastal town. The cinematography is just top-notch. The score is really haunting choral music. I was reminded of movies like The Exorcist or The Shining when I saw this -- the drama is real -- the horror is real. But this film is very original too. I was not surprised to see it get picked up for a US release. Could be a future classic.
Review of The Eclipse
