Hereafter (2010)
Hereafter (2010) — I enjoyed this movie but I at the same time I had a nagging problem with this movie. There are three separate stories that for most of the film’s running time did not connect, all telling stories about death. You have Marie (Cécile De France), a French journalist who survives the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and while drowning has a vision of the afterlife before being resuscitated (the tsunami scenes caused the film to pulled from Japanese release this past week and may make this a “too soon” movie for anyone affected by what’s happening in Japan… the 2005 London terrorist attacks are also depicted so this movie might touch on a couple sensitive areas). Then there’s George (Matt Damon), a man who can communicate with the dead but wants to put his career as a medium behind him to live a normal life. Lastly there’s Marcus (Frankie and George McLaren), an English child who witnesses the death of his identical twin brother. The plotlines do come together towards the end. Director Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Mystic River) and screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) seem to want to say something about death but what that statement is is never made entirely clear. That death is a part of life, neither to be obsessed over nor avoided? That’s not super-original right there. Maybe there’s not supposed to be an overall “message” and it’s just about three people trying to find some peace in this world. On that level it succeeds and it is an entertaining and sometimes moving movie. I just feel like there was supposed to be more.
Persistence of Vision 