MOVIE OF THE WEEK: HEREAFTER
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Matt Damon, Cécile De France, Frankie and George McLaren, Lyndsey Marshall, Thierry Neuvic, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jay Mohr, Richard Kind, Steven Schirripa, Jessica and Lisa Griffiths
WRITER: Peter Morgan
DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood
WEB SITE: http://hereafter.warnerbros.com/
THE PLOT: Hereafter begins by introducing us to Marie LeLay (Cécile De France), a French investigative reporter/Blackberry spokeswoman on holiday in the Far East with her director/boyfriend Didier (Thierry Neuvic). Everything is going well for the couple ... Until nature strikes and changes Marie's life as she knows it forever. She begins having visions as a result of the unexpected events that transpire, leaving her filled with questions about life and death and all points in between ...
Meanwhile, over in London, Marcus and Jason - a set of young twin brothers (Frankie and George McLaren) - are trying to make the best of a bad situation. For despite her best efforts, their single parent mother (Lyndsey Marshall) is a recovering addict/alcoholic (and London's child services department is not thrilled with her behavior). And of course, as fate/God/whatever spiritual force/being you do or don't believe in would have it, something happens that makes death become a central point of concern in Marcus' life.
Both Marie and Marcus have questions about death and the afterlife, but no one to turn to for answers, which is a shame ... Or so they may think. For George Lonegan (Matt Damon) has a gift - or as he considers it, a curse - that his brother (Jay Mohr) wants to exploit: He can connect to the dead and pass along their messages to the living. But how that impacts people, such as Melanie (Bryce Dallas Howard), is not without its consequences ...
THE TAKE: First and foremost, I am not - repeat NOT - going to get into the issue of whether or not there is an afterlife (or "hereafter,' if you will) and whether or not people can truly be psychic and/or communicate with the dead in this review. That is not the film's explicit intent, for it treats it as if one (non-denominational mind you) exists and that Matt Damon's character can in fact hear what the dead want to tell the living (and vice-versa).
One of the great things about the film, however, is that in doing that, it gives you no choice but to be drawn into its story, seeing how these facts once discovered affect the characters involved and their ways of coping with such revelations. Of course, true to the nature of just about (if not every) movie Clint Eastwood has directed, there are going to be moments of epic sadness along the way. But once again, Eastwood's films don't dwell on the sadness of those moments, but rather how those moments serve to motivate, inspire and affect the characters later in their lives. For as much as Marie and Marcus have questions about death, George struggles on how to cope with living with the ability he has.
There's no way the film would work without the phenomenal acting of Damon and de France, the latter in particular. While Damon gets top billing, the film is largely de France's to carry through many of the film's hardest moments. To her credit, she handles her scenes with an understated vulnerability that makes you forget you (in most moments) reading subtitles. Instead of falling into the trappings of playing up their bewilderment or heartbreak, the cast as a whole toes the line cautiously to craft out an intriguing story.
This, of course, reflects back upon Eastwood's eye behind the lens, blending highly visually entertaining cinematography while properly pacing his scenes. His longstanding career is a testament to the fact that Eastwood knows what he is doing be it in front or behind a camera; Hereafter simply serves as the latest example.
All that being said, if you cannot separate your own views on death and the afterlife from the events affecting the characters in the film, however, Hereafter - especially at 2 and a half hours - may feel like a really long exercise in exploring mortality, no matter how well the subject is discussed.
Also, the film's ending may leave some a little limp but unfortunately as screenwriter Peter Morgan may (or may not) have realized in penning the film, there's really no way to put a nice little bow on a story of this nature. Instead, what the film does well is make you consider your own feelings about how you would deal if you were in the situations its characters are in and leave you with a semblance of hope about the unknown.
PARTING SHOT: Regardless of whether or not you believe in the psychics or the afterlife, there's no argument that Hereafter comes in alive and kicking as one of 2010's best films.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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