Hereafter

///More Hereafter images, here\

I know what you’re thinking, “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I believe in the afterlife?” Well, do ya, punk?!

The H-Bomb: A famous French news anchor, Marie (Cecile de France), is nearly killed in a Tsunami while on vacation. When she was unconscious, she saw flashes of what she believes was the afterlife (white light, shadowy figures, yada yada). Once she returns to Paris, she has difficulty concentrating on her work and can’t shake the feeling of the visions she saw in her near death experience. Marie decides to take some time off to write a book which is initially about a French politician, but gradually turns into an investigation of the afterlife and her own experience.

And now for something completely different…

Jason and Marcus are young twin brothers living in London. Their mum is a junkie who staggers in wasted in the dead of night and is comatose in the morning, so the brothers are pretty much left to look after each other and are very close as a result. Jason is the talkative, take action one. Marcus is the introvert who usually follows his brother’s lead. One day, while running an errand for his mum, Jason is met with a tragic accident and dies. The mum goes to rehab and Marcus, feeling completely alone for the first time in his life, is sent to a foster home. Marcus develops an interest in a possible afterlife and starts to research the subject extensively, with the specific hope of being able to contact his deceased brother.

And now for something completely different…

George (Matt Damon) is a San Francisco man with a unique gift, he is able to communicate with people’s deceased loved ones. He used to do this for a living, which brought him some fame and fortune, but after awhile talking to dead people all the time started to take its toll on him, understandably, so he gave it up. Now he leads a quiet life where he works in a factory by day and takes cooking classes by night. He is pestered by his brother (Jay Mohr) and others to get back into the psychic readings, but George staunchly refuses (for the most part), because he knows of the unexpected consequences his readings can bring.

Clint Eastwood, as his two Oscars would indicate, is a first rate director. I would say that he’s a better director than he is an actor (and he’s no lightweight in that department), and I would say that he’s a better director than most directors (who only direct, that is). He learned film-making by simply observing greats like Don Seigel and Sergio Leone, and over the decades he has fine tuned his abilities to tell interesting stories, mainly character driven dramas, to the point where he is most definitely not just an actor who dabbles in directing, but a full blown filmmaker. The occasional misfire aside, he has always had a knack for casting the best actors around and bringing out the best in them. Anyone who doubts that needs to give films like “Unforgiven”, “Mystic River”, and “Million Dollar Baby” another look.

His films are mature and intelligent in a way I wish more Hollywood exports were. So, how does his latest, “Hereafter”, a meditation on death and the afterlife, stack up with the other films on his extensive, impressive resume? Well, unfortunately, I can’t go so far as to say it’s one of his best films, and I imagine there are people out there who won’t like it at all. But for me, while it isn’t Mr. Eastwood’s crowning achievement, it is still a damn fine motion picture.

Something that occurred to me as I was watching it was that this seemed to be Mr. Eastwood’s version of “Babel”. That is, having a multi-threaded story with seemingly unrelated characters, living in different countries, who all come together in the end. “Babel” with a spiritual/supernatural twist, if you will. Much of the time will be spent with the viewer wondering how these disparate stories and characters will come together, or if they will at all.

Well, to offer a vague spoiler, yes, the stories do tie together in the end, in a way that is very moving and satisfying on an emotional level. So much so, that I initially wanted to give this film a 4 ½ star rating. However, the more I thought about it, the more I remembered that the bulk of the movie had its problems, so I had to knock it down a star. It’s a good film. . . but not great.

What problems did I have when I stopped to think about it? Well, basically this is something Mr. Eastwood has struggled with in a number of his films… the pacing. There are sections of the film that are lackadaisical as hell, to the point of being nearly inert. I know it was supposed to have a low key feel to it, but there were many points where it seemed like it felt like it was just marking time.

There are many fine moments, like a potential romance between George and his cooking class partner (Bryce Dallas Howard), as well as a funny montage of Marcus visiting a number of phony psychics trying to contact his brother, but there were so many spots where, for me, the film just dragggggggggeeeeeedddddddd. Also, the way the story threads seemed so separate bothered me at first. I’m normally not bothered by this kind of storytelling, but here . . . I was. Towards the beginning, every time the film would go from one story to another, I kept thinking of that famous Monty Python transition, “And now for something completely different,” which I‘m sure was not what Mr. Eastwood intended.

But, that aside, there is much to recommend about “Hereafter”. Remember what I said about Mr. Eastwood’s ability to bring out the best from our best actors? Well, Matt Damon is certainly one of the finest out there, and here, he is indeed in top form. With lines on his face and gray on his temples, the 40 year-old Damon perfectly embodies George, a simple man with an extraordinary “gift” that he would just as soon live without. It’s an understated role for him, and he pulls it off flawlessly. This is around the time of year when pompous ass critics such as myself try to predict the potential Oscar contenders, and I would be greatly surprised and disappointed if Damon’s name is not on the list of nominees.

Cecile de France, who starred in the horror film “High Tension”, also puts in a terrific performance. Her Marie was once a pragmatic, career minded woman whose spiritual sensibility has been awakened, and she carries off that transition in character marvelously. The real life twin brothers Frankie and George McLaren, are excellent as Marcus and Jason (the way they’re credited on IMDb leads me to believe that both boys took turns playing both characters). While I won’t go as far as to say they steal the film, they do indeed hold their own with the far more seasoned thespians.

My gripes about the film’s pacing aside, I do believe that Mr. Eastwood made a very intelligent and ultimately moving film that ponders such trivial things as life, death, and what comes after. There is a spiritual element to the film, but not a preachy, overbearingly religious one, so agnostics (such as myself) need not be scared off. The top notch performances on display in “Hereafter” are more than enough reason to see it, and I highly recommend doing just that.