The Chicago Film Festival started last Thursday. Dinah and I have been going for the last few years. Generally the films are all really good, though there are few clunkers in there.* But last night I saw one of my favorite films. Possibly ever.
It's and Irish film directed by Conor McPherson (pictured), who is clearly a genius.
Now, I studied in London my Junior year of college, which was an amazing time. One of the highlights of the time there was all the theater I saw. I saw some amazing plays. The Invention of Love (which was also amazing. Tom Stoppard is also a genius), Oklahoma (with Hugh Jackman, hell yeah!), Phedre, Coppenhagen, and many others. My favorite play I saw, though, was McPherson's The Weir. This play is amazing. The acting was solid. I'm a generally emotional person, but not one who cries in front of others a lot. This play definitely made me cray. (Though, I am unsure if the people I was with really knew it.) From then on, whenever I'm near a book store with a section devoted to plays, I look up McPherson to see if there's a new play of his out. I've pretty much bought everything of his I've run across. And I've really enjoyed everything. So, when we saw a fim he directed was coming to the festival, it was a given I would see it somehow.
Something McPherson does really well is incorporate the otherworldly into his plays. In The Weir, this is done through ghost stories. Other plays it's the devil, or vampires. And, while this may seem to make his plays horror-affairs, the strength of them comes from McPherson's ability to tap into the feelings and emotions of the people who are dealing with the otherworldly. Whatever the phenomona is that the characters deal with, their emotions are the focus of the story. McPherson wrote the screen play with Billy Roche, who has a small part in the film. McPherson also directed the film, as well as helped arranged some of the music, which is very haunting.
I tell you this, because The Eclipse is similar in that way. The film festival guide described the film as being about two men who are after the same woman, who is a writer of supernatural things. Or some such. And the movie is about that, but only in a supporting way. This movie, in my eyes, is really more about a man and his family getting over loss, and the supernatural plays an important part in telling the story. I don't want to give too much away, because I think everyone should see this movie if they can, but I do want to say the lead actor, Ciaran Hinds, was absolutely brilliant. It's a part that required a lot from an actor and Hinds really delivers. Every scene is pitch perfect.**
And the way the camera is used throughout the film is very interesting. Horror films, and in some ways this is a horror film, have long been places of innovation and interesting camera shots and I think that tradition can be seen here. From the way the camera pans, to the angles chosen and what's shown to the viewer in almost every shot--the cinematography was outstanding.
I say this movie is in some ways a horror film, because this movie was really scary. But the frights come not only from the appearance of something frightening, but also because of what that something represents. In other words, it's more than just about being slashed by a sports-apparrell wearing nutbag who kills because he's never been loved. The movie delves into emotions more frightening than that. It's like a mature horror movie. I really cannot overemphasize how great it was.
Please go see it.
*Note 1. Like La Mustache, which was an overwrought French film where a man, after seeing old pictures of him on a tropical island without a mustach, shaves his facial hair. It's a dramatic scene of shaving and I guess it's some sort of transformational moment or something, but guess what? None of this man's friends notice his new lack of facial hair. He become obssessed with wondering why no one notices. He eventually goes insane, moves to a tropical island and guess what? His picture is taken. And the picture is the one he saw before. What a mind fuck! Seriously, it was the worst film I've ever seen. Of course it won the fan award that year. So, I know nothing about film and the genius it takes to write a circular story. You are warned.
**Note 2. It looks like Mr. Hinds has been cast in the final two Harry Potter films. Good for him.
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