Fancy a modern ghost story?

I am a big fan of Conor McPherson since I saw his Shining City back in the Lake District. It is the only play I read of him, but I want to read more. I admire a lot of things about it: how believeable, natural the characters were, how dead genuine the dialogue was and how on top of this he managed on top of this to make a believable ghost story set in modern day Ireland. McPherson has a way of twisting expectations of the genre that is pretty much pure genius. It is a cliché to say that someone goes beyond the genre. In his case, he puts the genre back in modern drama. As Halloween, the most Irish holiday with Saint-Patrick, I am on the look for ghost stories and horror movies. I was happily surprised,  looking for info about McPherson, to discover that he wrote and directed a horror movie, The Eclipse, in 2009. To top it up, the main character is played by... Ciaran Hinds, an actor I greatly admire. More about the movie here. There are some clips of the movie around Youtube too.

I don't know if I can see it before Halloween, but I hope so. If like me you prefer sobriety to gore and shock, this movie, if it is anything like McPherson's stage work, might give you a genuine chill. Here is the trailer.

The Ides of March

Well, a quick post as I am tired, but I couldn't forget about this one: it is the Ides of March today and I thought it had to be mentioned. Julius Caesar was murdered that day. So I just thought that I would put a here the murder scene from Rome, one of my favourite TV series as a sort of sinister commemoration. With the magnificent Ciaran Hinds as Caesar. I know I have put a lot of Youtube videos on my blog recently, but that is fitting to a gloomy middle of March.

Rome dramatised

I guess I'm in an Italian mood these days. Anyway, it's raining outside, so there isn't much to do. After my job hunt (which might bear fruits soon, stay tune), I spend time reading and watching the tv series Rome. I absolutely love it. I told you about it a few months ago. Now, I am almost through the first season. I haven't been disappointed. Yes, it's not perfectly historically acurate, but no historical drama ever is. The tone is acurate, and in the end that's all it matters: we believe we are watching history. What I particularly like about the series is the way the actors (all perfectly cast) are so natural playing these larger than life real people. Ciaran Hinds is still magnificent as Caesar. Sadly, I won't see him for much longer.

Rome the series

I just watched the first episode of the HBO series Rome. Wow! I was blown away. I have been missing good historical melodrama, and that was really good stuff. And Ciaran Hinds who plays Julius Caesar...What a great actor! It's quite difficult to play historical characters, especially legendary figures such a Caesar, but he does it with such ease. There is no overplay or any cheap trick, he does it naturally. The tone of voice, the expressions, the gleam in the eye, everything is so perfect.