The Nightmare on a Cobh Street

At yesterday's Q & A session, after the screening of his film Eclipse, Conor McPherson cited among his cinematic influences, Stanley Kubrick in The Shining. Kubrick's movie certainly has beautiful cinematography, and  I could see the homage to Kubrick in McPherson's long, continuous camera shots effectively instilling anxiety in his audience. The labyrinthine hallways of the Overlook Hotel even reappear as the medieval streets of Cobh. But since I will never forgive Kubrick for killing off Scatman Crothers, I'd rather loook to that other Stephen King thriller, Carrie, for additional influences upon Eclipse. 

There are so many Brian DePalma moments in Eclipse, I watched the movie with eyes wide shut. I don't do horror. 

I did open my eyes however when Aidan Quinn was on screen. He chews up that picturesque Irish scenery in a role that brings great comic relief. Quinn is Nicholas Holden, a commercially successful author starring in the Cobh literary festival, the centerpiece of the movie.  Nicholas is the unsubtle ugly American: a drunk, an adulterer, and an egoist, and these are his good points. He sees the good people of Cobh as "lamebrains and dillentantes." We just know he's incorrect on this. Especially on the subject of Michael Farr played by Ciarán Hinds. He's no lamebrain nor a dillentante. He's merely a devoted dad, and a recently widowed and heartbroken woodshop teacher who happens to see dead people. Pictured here is Mr. Hinds with Iben Hjejle as Lena, a writer of the supernatural who also is in town for the festival. Lena makes a connection with Michael, one of McPherson's poignant human alliances that elevate his movie up and beyond the usual horror fare.

I don't know what the critics will say about this movie when it reaches a general distribution which no doubt it will (Lionsgate and Magnolia Films among others are said to be interested.) There is an strained mix of horror and romance, pathos and petty comedy in the movie. There is a religious imagery in almost every shot that lies uneasily with the idea of malevolent supernatural world. It's not the usual American teen slasher film. Closer perhaps to The Exorcist, another of McPherson's influences. Everywhere the shadow of St. Coleman's falls upon the town and its inhabitants. 

There are flashes of brilliance in Eclipse, especially in the balance of ancient and modern Ireland. Analogous to these contrasts are Michael's visions. Are his dreams manifestations of his grief or are they real? Are they dreams according to a modern definition of psychiatry or are they ancient visions from a paradigm we don't understand?  What we do know from Mr. McPherson's movie is that a parent's grief at the loss of a child and husband's grief at the loss of his wife can be unbearable. And this makes Eclipse, for all its shocks, a deeply sad film. I don't know how that is going to play out in the mall cineplex, but all involved are to be congratulated for a passionate film. Here is an inteview clip: