Spring 2011 Film Reviews I

Herafter (2010): A-

Herafter is one of the most touching movies I have ever seen and is near perfect for close to seventy percent of its run time. The film has three separate story lines that converge at the end of the film (much like Crash or Love Actually). The film follows three separate characters: George a troubled man with psychic abilities, Marcus a young orphan who has lost his twin brother to a horrible tragedy, and Marie a French journalist who has had a near death experience. When Hereafter is about Marcus or George it is mesmerizing - when it follows Marie it is mediocre. 

Matt Damon is billed as the lead of Herafter but he is really in only half the film. Damon plays George a psychic who can communicate with the dead. His character had used this ability to make a living in the past but has quit the business because of the emotional toll of constant contact with dead people. George’s brother tries to get him to move on from his low paying construction job and back into the psychic business but George refuses. George cannot make or maintain relationships with people and his gift (which he refers to as a curse) ruins a potential romance. George cannot have a normal life because of his “gift” and he seems to resent even having the ability.  

The second character in the film is Marcus. Marcus is the heart and soul of Hereafter. Marcus is a young child (9-12 in age) who lives with his junkie mother and twin brother Jason. Marcus and Jason are really more than brothers; their mother has seemingly no positive effect on the children and together they raise themselves. Jason is chased by a gang of hoodlums and killed when he is struck by an SUV (he has gone to pick up medicine for his mother). Marcus’s mother than gives up custody of Marcus for a year “until she is ready” and the boy is put into the British equivalent of Foster care. Within months Marcus has lost his brother and his mother who are literally the only people in his life. Marcus is like a dead child walking for most of the film. He has no emotion or heart – which is understandable considering the tragedies that have faced the character. Marcus makes it his mission to speak to his brother who he misses greatly. Marcus encounters numerous charlatans who are clearly just making stuff up about communicating to the dead. The boy grows more and more despondent over the course of the movie. One scene seems to suggest the possibility of a higher power when by chance Marcus is saved from the bombings of the London underground. Marcus meets Matt Damon’s character (who is a legitimate psychic) when the character of George takes a vacation/break from his life to London. George does not like doing readings – the character is hesitant to use his gift in the film and only uses it after intense pressure. Anyways Marcus runs into George and begs him to read him and George refuses. Marcus (who has nothing to lose really) stalks George back to his hotel and waits outside the building for hours. George finally offers him the reading Marcus so badly desires and lets him talk to his brother for one final time. The scene is heartbreaking and played well by both Damon and the young boy.

There is a third character in Hereafter who is a French journalist that has had a near-death experience during the Asian Tsunami. In my opinion this character brought absolutely nothing to do film and was just a distraction from the two other genuinely compelling stories. The woman named Marie is vapid and somewhat arrogant throughout the film. Her character was supposed to have had a life-changing experience but instead she came across as crazy and insane. The woman is dismayed when she is not featured on billboards and not on TV (her “problems” pale in comparison to the tragic life of Marcus). In one scene she sells a publishing company on the idea of commissioning a book about some French politician – she then proceeds to submit to them a book about a completely different subject. When the publishing company voices their surprise and displeasure she acts as if she has been persecuted (when in reality the company just wants her to give them the product she promised). The character eventually writes a non-fiction book about the denial of a hereafter (or afterlife) and how it certainly exists.

Hereafter is on the whole very calmly paced and is in no hurry to tell its story. This can be frustrating I guess if one wants an action thriller type film (which some may expect based on the trailer and first ten minutes of the film). I suppose the three story lines converging at once can be kind of hard to believe but it is a movie about the afterlife. You have to be willing to suspend some disbelief to enjoy the movie. What held Hereafter from being one of my all-time favorite movies is the French journalist storyline. Subtract that from the movie and it is near perfect. I have never felt more depressed watching a film than when I was watching the tragic life of Marcus. Its kind of frustrating to have to leave the engrossing story of Marcus and even George to go back to the minor troubles of some privileged French woman. A lot of credit to making the film so touching has to go to the Clint Eastwood (who directed the film). Its kind of funny that such a perceived tough guy like Eastwood is able to make such sad and touching movies like Hereafter and Changeling. Hereafter is certainly better than what its middling reviews would suggest (46% on Rotten Tomatoes) or soft box office numbers ($33 million domestic box office). I would put Hereafter in the top five of films I saw released in 2010 behind only The Social Network, The Town, and Inception.