Hereafter

Hereafter and the Critics

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Bryce Dallas Howard and Matt Damon in Hereafter

I’m surprised at the wide range of critical reaction to Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, a film that I admire.   Hereafter now has a middling MetaCritic score of 56 – the same score as Jackass 3D.

Comfortingly, three of the critics that I respect the most reacted to Hereafter as I did.  Metacritic assigned 100 points to reviews by Roger Ebert and Mick LaSalle and 90 points to a review by A.O. Scott.  But enough midrange reviews along with a smattering of  negative reviews brought Hereafter‘s average down.

I read several of the lukewarm and disapproving reviews.  Some didn’t find the supernatural premise credible enough to suspend disbelief.  Some expected an answer about what comes after death.  Some were disappointed by the languid pace after the rock-em sock-em opening sequence.   I think that they all missed the point.  The movie isn’t really about whether there is an afterlife.  It’s about how we living humans deal with mortality with grief, fear, avoidance, faith, questioning and belief or non-belief in an Afterlife.  The richness of the movie is in the superb depiction of actual humans doing what we humans do – including grieving, longing, wondering, scamming, searching and ignoring.

As to the Afterlife, the one character in the movie who really knows that there is one, can’t work hard enough to escape any contact with it.  What does that say?

As a side note, virtually all the reviews, even the most negative ones, praised the tsunami sequence at the beginning.  Everybody loves a good tidal wave.

Hereafter

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For the first time, Clint Eastwood ventures into the supernatural with the story of three people and their individual experiences with death.  It’s also a departure for screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon, The Damned United).   The most skeptical, nonspiritual viewer (me) finds this to be a compelling film.

The question of What Comes Next is unanswered, and less interesting than the film’s observations of what happens on this Earth to living humans.  Eastwood’s genius is in delivering moments of complete truthfulness, one after the other, across a wide range of settings.  Young boys enabling a druggie mother.  People in a hostel watching for the last breath of a loved one.  Experienced, skilled and loving foster parents facing a challenge that they cannot fathom.  Every instance of human behavior is completely authentic.

Equally realistic is the big CGI-enhanced action sequence at the beginning of the film – an Indonesian tsunami, not overblown in any way, but frightening in its verisimilitude.

Eastwood is an actor’s director, and star Matt Damon leads a set of excellent performances.  Bryce Dallas Howard has an Oscar-worthy performance of a woman achingly eager to move past the painful episodes of her life.   The child actor Frankie McLaren carries significant stretches of the story with his unexpressed longing and childish relentlessness.  Cecile de France ably plays a successful television anchor compelled by events to veer her life in a different direction. Richard Kind delivers a moving portrayal of a man seeking closure after the death of his wife.

Updated Movies To See Right Now

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James Coburn and James Garner in The Americanization of Emily

The best movie to see is still The Social Network.   The birth story of Facebook is a riveting tale of college sophomores that are brilliant, ambitious, immature, self-absorbed and disloyal – and about to become zillionaires.  It’s a triumph for actor Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland, Zombieland and Solitary Man), director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War).  It’s already on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

Howl has a fine performance by James Franco, but is marred by an unsuccessful animation.  Without strongly recommending it, I can say that The Town is a satisfying Hollywood thriller.  You can skip Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger.  For trailers and other choices, see  Movies to See Right Now.

I have not yet seen Inside Job or Hereafter, which open this week.  You can see their trailers at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the Week is still The Day of the Jackal.  For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include  The Americanization of Emily (more on that tomorrow) and The Black Stallion, all coming up on TCM.

More Movies I'm Looking Forward To

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September is approaching, and so is the Fall movie season, when the studios push their Oscar contenders.  So I have updated my Movies I’m Looking Forward To page with new titles and new trailers.

There are films by Clint Eastwood, Mike Leigh, Terrence Malick, Peter Weir, Sophia Coppola, Julie Taymor and the Coen Brothers.  Two of my favorite lesser-known directors, Suzanne Bier (Brothers, After the Wedding, Things We Lost in the Fire) of Denmark and Guillaume Canet (Tell No One) of France, have new movies.  Darren Aronofsky will release his newest film after hitting it big with The Wrestler – Black Swan with Natalie Portman.

Helen Mirren will star in three movies: The Debt, Brighton Rock and The Tempest.

The Oscar Bait includes The Town, The Fighter, Another Year, Somewhere, Hereafter, True Grit, Howl, The Way Back and The Tree of Life.  Wall Street: The Money Never Sleeps and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest look to me like the surest Fall hits.   Another Year, The Town, Hereafter and The Way Back look like they will be the best movies.  We should have a better feel for the buzz after Toronto’s film fest in mid-September.

Visit Movies I’m Looking Forward To for more descriptions and trailers.