Philadelphia Film Festival 2009

Somewhere amidst the hustle and bustle of Cobh’s literary festival, local Michael (Ciaran Hinds) is wrestling with his newly found role of single father to his two children. As chance would have it, he finds his world turned upside down when he volunteers to be the driver for supernatural-fiction writer Lena. As Lena (Iben Hjejle) and Michael get closer, Michael, haunted by skeletons in his closet, begins to question his own morality. To make matters worse, he must vie for her attention with a jealous long-time pursuer, internationally acclaimed author Nicholas (Aidan Quinn), who is in town plugging his latest work while trying to nail down the one girl he could never get.

Directed by two time Tony Award-nominated writer Conor McPherson, The Eclipse is an elegant and refreshing character study. As beautiful as it is moody, McPherson’s film is a truly mature dramatic work with fully realized, complex characters and subtle emotional nuances. Featuring a tour-de-force performance by the always talented Aidan Quinn, The Eclipse is a perfect cinematic adaptation of McPherson’s talents for staged characterizations on screen. –– Michael Lerman