Hereafter came pretty much as a surprise to me considering it was directed by Clint Eastwood who’s generally known for his westerns and crime movies.
The film consists of interconnected stories about individuals who have recently suffered loss and tragedy and find themselves on a spiritual and emotional journey.
The films is pretty solid and constantly builds on it’s tone and pacing, ultimately delivering a satisfying end.
The films focuses on the three characters who’ve recently lost something or someone close to them.
The first character and probably the centre of the film is George Lonegan, a psychic, played by Matt Damon who can talk to people who have died. It is made evident in the beginning of the film that the character is not a lunatic nor a schizophrenic by the opening sequence where George is seen talking to the dead wife of an associate of his brother’s. It was a clever choice considering several films have failed to made that distinction in the beginning and left the viewers confused as to if the film was about the mental paranoia of the character or if it really was the case (most notably Charlie St Cloud, which came out the same year as this movie, what a mess of a film that one is).
George feels he’s not living a normal life as his life is all about death and finds his abilities to be a curse, contradictory to his brother’s beliefs who finds it to be a gift.
The second character is Marie Lelay, played by CĆ©cile De France who’s a French reporter who had an accident where she almost died and then came back to life. She’s been to the afterlife and back. Confused and puzzled as to what she saw, she’s looking for answers and that takes a toll on her professional as well as personal life.
The third character is Marcus, a young British boy who recently lost his older brother, someone he always looked up to and turned to when in need of help. He finds life very difficult to cope with in the absence of his brother. Hoping for some sort of closure, he’s desperately looking for ways he can contact his dead brother.
The characters have depth and you definitely feel for them moving forward, boosted by several wonderful performances.
Bryce Dallas Howard appears for a short duration of time and is wonderful in it.
Supporting performances were also brilliant, Lyndsey Marshal as Marcus’s mother and Thierry Neuvic as Didler.
The opening Tsunami sequence needs special praise for it’s excellence and for how realistic it was.
The idea the movie presents is whether death is really the end. Whether death is something you should live in fear of, whhether death is final.
The film is not for everyone as some might find its execution really boring if they are not interested by the theme of the film or are looking for some story-driven plot. It has a story but the film is not about that. It simply presents an idea by making characters work around that and it is up to you to decide just how fascinating how you find it.
I, for instance, was really impressed by this. But also having a knack for interest in themes that essentially do not have an answer, like the one here, is there really an hereafter? An afterlife?
The film presents the idea that indeed there’s consciousness after death but leaves everything else to the imagination of the viewer and that is where it succeeds in making a mark and leaving a lasting impression on the viewer.
The overall aesthetic of the film is also very pleasant as Eastwood has used beautiful locations for shooting the entirety of the film.
I highly recommend to this anyone who’d watch it for the journey it takes you on and not just as a means to kill time.
Rating : 7.5/10
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Link below
Everything Cinema 