Hereafter

Dir: Clint Eastwood (Invictus, Gran Torino, The Changeling, Unforgiven, High Plains Drifter)
Cast: Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Frankie McLaren, George McLaren, Jay Mohr, Bryce Dallas Howard
USA, 2010

Seen: October 16, 2010 at AMC

Reason to see: I was happily surprized with Invictus, and looked forward to another Eastwood/Damon film, especially considering this one had a elusive supernatural tone from the trailers.

First up, a bit of a disclaimer for folks going into Hereafter anticipating a Matt Damon-a-thon. It's not, but don't let that deter you as it's a beautiful and understated depiction of after death explorations with a triptych-influenced storytelling style.

The fact that the film follows three separate stories is one of the things I loved about it, as it provides the opportunity to see one issue from several different perspectives from different locations around the world. From the US, to the UK to France it has a lovely worldly flavour, mirroring the universal nature of life and death. It does favour practical over 'woo-woo' which I didn't expect, but again that's a very brave choice for this type of film. It's very centred and realistic, but also open and interpretive.

One of the things I appreciated the most about Hereafter is that it's a non-religious look at the 'what happens after death' question. It's extremely rare to see these issues dealt with from that perspective, and I applaud the bravely it took to do so. I was also suprized to see the representation of a person who isn't interested in using the 'gifts' and the challenges that brings them, in a world about embracing your strengths it's rare to hear a tale of someone who struggles against their strengths. For both of these perspectives I was thrilled to see that overall it has a very open and refreshing take on subject matter we seen before, and I was so happily surprized by these choices.

I really enjoyed the film and even felt like I was exactly the target market for the film: it's smart, worldly, open, interesting and follows regular people who've been in extraordinary situations but who are always accessible. I'm very curious to hear reactions to the film. I really hope people get out to see it and I'd love to hear your perspectives and opinions on it.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I'd recommend it to fans of drama with a open minds and open hearts

16 minutes of preshow including 1 commercial and 6 previews: Due Date, Restless, The Next Three Days, Black Swan, True Grit and Fair Game

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© Shannon Ridler, 2010