Getting a Movie Thrill And a Workout, Too

An art-house ghost story from Ireland, “The Eclipse� could be the sleeper surprise of the season.

   Ciarán Hinds (probably best known as Julius Caesar on HBO’s “Romeâ€� series) gives an affecting performance as Michael Farr, a widower and father of two who begins having spectral visions.  (Interestingly, Hinds has said that he found depth in his performance from the real-life tragedy of local legend Natasha Richardson, whose husband Liam Neeson is a close friend.)

   A high school woodworking teacher and frustrated writer, Farr meets a sympathetic soul while working as an organizer of a literary festival that takes place in his Irish seaside town of Cobh, where the movie was actually filmed. Lena Morelle (Danish actress Iben Hjejle) is author of the eponymous book, “The Eclipse,â€� which explores the phenomenon of ghosts, credulously.

   The two begin a somewhat accidental friendship that drags Morelle deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Farr’s increasingly ghoulish visitations. 

   Meanwhile, the wild card in their relationship is the crude, egotistical celebrity author, Nicholas Holden (Aidan Quinn), also in town for the festival, who had a previous fling with Morelle.

   Based on a story by Billy Roche, the movie’s supernatural plot follows a somewhat conventional trajectory for its genre, with increasingly chilling visions, and many critics will no doubt frown on its not altogether coherent structure and especially its anticlimactic ending.  

   I rather liked the film’s willingness to be different and not give in to the temptation of head-scratching twists or all-out Guignol. It is something like “Ordinary Peopleâ€� meets “The Sixth Sense,â€� a ghost story set in the real world.

   And what a world it is!  The setting is breathtaking and captured in atmospheric splendor by cinematographer Ivan McCullough. Working with director Conor McPherson (2003’s “The Actorsâ€�), he creates a visually engrossing study in opposites: shadow and light, open and closed (doors and windows), coming and going.

   But the best reason to see this movie is for the performances of the three leads, caught in a complicated romantic triangle. Quinn is the real standout here, throwing himself into the role of the boorish, intemperate author with delightful abandon. Hinds and Hjejle (pronounced YAY-leh) are excellent, too, and their evolving friendship is nicely understated.

   Praise also to McPherson for knowing how to deliver a good popcorn-jostling jolt or two.  I can’t remember the last time I had an aerobic workout in the theater (but I can think of lots of movies like this year’s “The Wolfmanâ€� and others, in which the intended shocks were complete duds). 

   Even if some of the surprises in “The Eclipseâ€� are a bit gratuitous, they work through a mastery of camera work and  manipulation of mood.

   “The Eclipseâ€� is not significant enough to avoid a likely fate eerily similar to its title.

   But like its astronomical namesake, it puts on a darn good show.

“The Eclipse� is rated R for language and some disturbing images. It is playing at the Triplex in Great Barrington, MA.

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