Ooooh, Heaven is a place on earth: That song isn't in the film (I know, I know), but these two are.
Hereafter--Clint Eastwood just won't give up. Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, in his eighties, Eastwood is a fine filmmaker who has presented some of the most powerful films in the past decade (Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo-Jima, Gran Torino), but lately it seems his work is a little underwhelming. Changeling featured Angelina Jolie's best performance to date and an exciting narrative, but ran a bit too long for that story to be as pulsating and resonating as it should've been. Invictus featured a fine turn by Morgan Freeman, but was grounded in boredom and redundancy. His latest film, Hereafter, is another one of his films ladened with similar flaws, but still stands as a decent enough film.
The movie opens with an energetic sequence featuring Marie, a French news reporter (in a strong performance by Cecil De France), trying to survive the 2004 Tsunami attack. She believes she got a taste of the afterlife, searching for answers from her own friends and colleagues that eventually leads her to Switzerland. Miles away, Matt Damon plays a factory worker with psychic abilities that only hinder his personal life. And in London, a young boy struggles to cope with the death of his twin brother who had recently been killed in an automobile accident. The three narratives can't seem to stand on their own without depending on one another, even though they don't collide until the last 10 minutes of the film. The problem with Eastwood's film his constant affirmation that this story is about death and grief (even the subtlest scenes have a taste of this notion)--it needs a little more room to breathe and flesh out characters where the theme isn't being pounded on them. The script contains too much contrived dialogue for it to not be noticed (evident in the awful trailer) and the acting is a mixed bag--George McLaren vastly underperforms as the young boy, as he delivers his line with either little or forced emotion, while Jay Mohr is simply miscast and lacks any depth. That said, De France, Damon, and Bryce Dallas Howard (in a strong supporting role) give rounded-out and emotional performances, while the film's cinematography is breathtaking. The special effects could use work (it looks as if Eastwood hired the Sims as his extras), but the film looks amazing and matches the somber yet hopeful tone. Hereafter still poses interesting questions regarding the afterlife, without inappropriately taking a bias stand that would become ludicrous. The direction, too, is graceful, making Hereafter a lowkey, tender film that certainly is imperfect but remains a good enough film to watch and ponder over.
Grade: B-
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