Eclipse fever is upon us. . . Or at least, those of us who are near, or traveling on the path of totality for the heavenly occasion of April 8th. Total solar eclipses are not as uncommon as one might think, happening about once every 18 months from Earth’s perspective. The key is to see that happen.
This month’s eclipse is very important precisely because its visual trail stretches across the major population centers of North America, with Austin, Dallas, Indianapolis, Buffalo, and Montreal among the major cities on the trail of totality, and partial perspectives thousands of miles in either direction. . Because of the relative rarity of being in the right position at the right time, eclipses are almost highly symbolic occasions in movies; They never take a stand by chance.
While we’re all getting ready to see something beautiful here in the real world, in movies eclipses are almost unsettling, if not downright unsettling. There is a feeling that once the sun starts to set, the general regulations no longer apply. The Apocalypse is on the table, as is the transformation. Eclipses can recommend the triumph of the weak over the powerful or, conversely, the triumph of darkness over light.
Unlike the eclipse, which you’re likely to see without a very clever eye protection, you can watch those 12 videos directly.
You’re probably familiar with the paintings of French film pioneer Georges Méliès through his most famous film, Le Voyage dans los angeles Lune (1902). However, this wasn’t his only movie in the skies, and he’s having a lot of laughs with this Los Angeles project. It starts out as a sweltering science lesson in a room full of stuffy old professors (including Méliès himself) before turning into a highly sexualized encounter between the sun and moon in the night sky (for any viewer). with the slightest trace of imagination, it’s downright dirty. )
We’ve been wondering for decades if it’s an absolutely direct encounter, when the diabolically masculine sun takes the gender-ambiguous moon from behind. In any case, Méliès understood that a few minutes of darkness in the day, when other eyes were distracted, could simply constitute a kind of opportunity. If you know what I mean.
Where to stream: YouTube
Mark Twain’s seminal satirical novel shed light on the classic photographs of medieval life and chivalry then popular in other British literatures. It was also a true overthrow of the monarchy and unbridled capitalism. The 1949 film edition abandons much of this appealing (and bite) subtext. while retaining a smart, old-fashioned spirit of American dynamism, epitomized through Bing Crosthrough. It’s all a lot of fun and reaches its climax when Hank, displaced in time, from Crosthrough, as he should be, predicts a general solar eclipse just as it’s about to happen. executed (Smart Sync). Luckily, I had traveled with an e-book that noted the times and dates of such things, reminding us to think conscientiously about what to pack on a vacation in time.
One sticking point: There was no eclipse recorded in the June 528 film, but Twain may have based the novel’s similar events on real history: Christopher Columbus, i. e. bad at everything he did, received a last minute respite on one of his last trips thanks to a little prescience. After beaching his unseaworthy ships off the coast of Jamaica, his crew began mistreating the locals, who temporarily lost interest in offering the food he kept alive to starving sailors. Columbus used his foreknowledge of the upcoming eclipse to convince local leaders that his God would punish them. They relented and Columbus lived to receive a rescue shipment and spent the rest of his life being ridiculed by his contemporaries as an abject failure (and his afterlife was venerated with an American holiday). As for the premise of the film, early medieval scientists would have known about eclipses and their reasons (one of King Arthur’s proto-sources is the monk Bede, who wrote as he should about how eclipses occur), but they don’t. It’s crazy. think this is normal. other people would freak out if Bing Crosthrough showed up and seemed to order the sun to go dark.
Where to stream: Tubi
This one is less well-known than other wonderful biblical epics of the 1960s, but it comprises lavish sets and wonderful old (if a bit absurd) Hollywood casts, plus Anthony Quinn, Anthony Kennedy, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Palance, and Sharon Tate. the main character, the thief freed through Pontius Pilate instead of Jesus. A specific innovation in the film occurs in the scene in which Barabbas returns to witness the death of Jesus: taking the New Testament about the fall from darkness literally, the series A real total eclipse was filmed on February 15, 1961, when this occasion was visual in its entirety over Italy where the filming took place. I guess there was no shot at the moment.
Where to stream: Digital rental
This underrated slasher follows an organization of 3 young people born on the same day in the middle of a not-so-convincing solar eclipse. The instances of their birth naturally lead them to become murderers on their tenth birthday. (You can’t argue with science foundations. ) The kids start bullying the teens and the movie temporarily feels like a cross between The Bad Seed and Friday the 13th. Susan Strasberg and José Ferrer lend some credibility to the drama and help make ethics transparent (“No, it gives birth to an eclipse!What were you thinking!”).
Where to stream: Tubi
In Richard Donner’s unjustly forgotten medieval fantasy, young thief Phillipe Gaston (Matthew Broderick) befriends Captain Navarre (Rutger Hauer), a cursed man. Navarre and his lover Lady Isabeau of Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer) can never be together: he turns into a wolf at night, while she transbureaucracy turns into a hawk during the day. An eclipse is the narrative’s answer to their prayers: in this age, neither evening nor day, nor are they able to assume their true human bureaucracy at the same time, giving them a genuine chance of defeat. the jealous sorcerer who the. on.
Where to stream: Tubi
The origins of the fleshy-lipped carnivore Audrey II aren’t entirely clear, but what we do know is this: In the shop of an old Chinese plant merchant (showing unfortunate allusions to an outdated exotic Orientalism), the plant gave the impression of out of nowhere, right in the middle of an eclipse of the sun. Audrey II, a self-identified depraved green mother from outer space, obviously came from the stars, but she can also do so only under very strict conditions. Therefore, eclipse day is probably not the best time to buy plants.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Stephen King has never shied away from binding his novels, but he does so in sophisticated ways, rarely dropping little Easter eggs here and there. The novels Gerald’s Game and Dolores Claiborne, published in 1992, pass in an extra way and were at one point intended to bind his novels. to be a single novel. Each is about women suffering from the presence of degrading and controlling men in their lives, and each arrives at primary narrative occasions marked by an actual general solar eclipse that occurred on July 20, 1963 (though the film fakes that date in the 1970s). Here, Kathy Bates’ titular Dolores kills her abusive husband (David Strathairn) in a dramatically framed flashback through the disappearance of the sun; The novel adds the detail of an eclipse party that captures the attention of the maximum population of the island on which he lives. Either way, it’s a smart time to be aware of everything that may be going on around you while your attention is drawn to the setting sun.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Eclipses are a matter of perspective, but they are also universal. All you need is a sun, an orbital frame blocking it, and someone who is in the right position to notice. Mankind has even noticed a trace of this: a partial sun. eclipse filmed by the Perseverance Rover on Mars. The science fiction film Pitch Black takes us to a much more remote world and the crash of a criminal ship that dressed Richard B. Riddick through Vin Diesel, among others. Survivors are informed that although the planet’s three suns keep it in near-perpetual daylight, periods of eclipses occur, which the planet’s ferocious subterranean monsters rise to the surface to nibble on. Naturally, an eclipse occurs. Luckily, light-sensitive Riddick is even more difficult and terrifying in the dark.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, written by Alex Garland, doesn’t involve an actual eclipse (at least not noticed from Earth), but it works as well thematically as any other movie on this list. Combining science and psychology in the manner of Solaris or 2001, the film follows a team of eight people who seek to rekindle our dying sun in the short term of 2057. Images of our star’s slow decline evoke the primal and terrifying thrill that a real eclipse produces. No matter how scientifically we perceive the process, it’s hard not to feel uncomfortable when the sun disappears from the sky in the middle of the day.
Where to Stream: Digital Rental
As noted, at least in Stephen King’s novel, the eclipse that appears here is the same one that saw Dolores Claiborne fatally confront her husband’s abuse and violence. The moment connects Dolores, spiritually and psychically, to a young Jessie, who faces horrific sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Film editing abandons this connection, but maintains the importance of the sexual violence that brought the two women together. Here, Jessie (Carla Gugino) is trapped in an isolated cabin following the death of her husband. In addition to horribly tangible threats, Jessie’s isolation forces him to reflect on the sexual trauma of his youth, punctuated throughout this eclipse, and how he has followed it in his life.
Where to stream: Netflix
You’re supposed to feel sorry for 15-year-old Veronica and her friends, who are plagued by paranormal events. But honestly, conducting a query using a Ouija board is an eclipse, even after you’ve already learned that eclipse magic is used. Summoning dark spirits, well, it’s like asking for trouble. It’s a solidly creepy demonic-owned movie, loosely based on a true (well, “true”) story, even though the eclipse was added for the theatrical version. Still, even non-superstitious types are likely to gain advantages in attempting to summon a spiritual wholeness.
Where to stream: Netflix
James Cameron’s Pandora is not a planet, but a moon of the (fictional, perhaps) fuel giant Polyphemus, which in turn orbits the (real) star Alpha Centauri A, which is a component of the three-star system Alpha Centauri. That is, the complex orbital dynamics mean that Pandora itself doesn’t see much darkness, even at night. However, it does have periodic moments where Polyphemus completely eclipses Pandora’s sun, leading, in the film, to cool images involving bioluminescence. From these eclipses occurs the final war of The Way of Water. This hints, in a way, at how Metkayina’s probably weaker extended family could triumph over the GDR’s colonial forces, but it also indicates that a significant replacement is coming.
Where to stream: Max, Disney
Former child star turned dog owner.