10:09 PM
Anonymous
Hereafter is a new movie, starring Matt Damon, about what happens when we die, and how death affects the living. (both directly and indirectly) It is produced by Stephen Spielberg and directed by Clint Eastwood. This movie follows three converging storylines.
One is about a young French woman named Marie. The film starts with her on vacation in Indonesia with her lover. She is at the town market when a tsunami hits. Marie nearly dies, but is saved by some strangers on a rooftop. After this event, she starts having flashbacks and migraines that interfere with her work, so she takes a leave of absence in order to write a book investigating near death experiences.
Matt Damon plays George Lonegan, a retired psychic. He has given up the psychic business in order to pursue a normal life. After he does a reading as a favor for a friend, his past comes back to haunt him. He tries to escape who he is, but his financial situation is bleak and people are desperate for his help.
The third storyline follows twin boys, Marcus and Jason, who have an alcoholic, heroin addicted mother. After almost losing her children to child services, the mother decides to quit and sends Jason to the pharmacist to pick up detox medication. On the way back, he is robbed by a group of hoodlums. He tries to outrun them, but he is hit and killed by a truck. Jason’s brother Marcus is placed in foster care, where he struggles to fit in without his twin brother. Since he cannot survive without his brother, he starts researching psychics to try to contact Jason.
Screenplay
The screenplay for this movie is excellent. I think Clint Eastwood’s greatest strength as a director is his ability to create lifelike characters, and this movie is no exception. I love the way that he makes the viewer feel distant from Marcus’ foster family and pretty much everyone in Marie and George’s lives. Eastwood makes the viewer care about the characters and feel their loneliness and isolation. The characters feel so rich and human; they are anything but shallow or one-dimensional.
The first half of this movie focuses mostly on character development. It felt rather slow and tedious when I first watched it, however it ultimately pays off. Each of the story lines is independent until the end of the movie, and the way the filmmakers bring together three compelling story lines is really elegant.
Hereafter is a very well written movie. The dialogue feels natural; it never feels forced. There are tons of one-liners that are poetic and wise.
Acting
I was worried about the acting quality of this movie at one point. One of the twins (Jason) definitely showed some weak acting at a few times. Luckily, they kill him off pretty early on on the movie, and his twin brother was a superb actor. I swear, the quality of child actors seems to be getting better and better lately.
Matt Damon delivers a stellar performance. He is great at playing people with unique abilities and head injuries. (Borne series) Damon brings those same skills to the table here. The actress who plays Marie does a very good job of delivering both her English lines and her French lines. (about a quarter of her lines are in English and the rest are in French) Marcus’ mom plays the part of a heroin addict perfectly.
Despite my initial concerns, the acting quality in Hereafter ended up being one of the movie’s greatest strengths.
Style
I liked the style of this movie a lot. The three story lines take place in England, France, and San Fransisco. Eastwood gave the scenes a strong local vibe and the result is a movie with a very international ambiance.
The special effect that is used during the near death scenes and psychic connection scenes is beautiful. When George goes into a psychic state, there are many figures in an open area. The colors seem almost inverted and ethereal. When he is focused on one person, they appear detailed and vibrant; the other spirits are shadowy and vague.
The computer generated tsunami looked fantastic. Few movies can match the realistic appearance and motion of the water in this scene. The destruction of the tsunami is very intense. You see bodies, cars, boats, and even buildings being swept up by the water and carried inland. People are caught in downed power lines and electrocuted. The whole tsunami scene is very intense and jarring.
Genre Comparison
I don’t know whether I would consider the genre of this movie to be a Clint Eastwood movie or, to be a drama about the afterlife. Either way, this movie shines. Clint Eastwood makes fantastic dramas dealing with the subject of death. The bar has already been set high, and this movie doesn’t make the cut. This is mainly because it doesn’t leave you with a clear message; just with some things to think about.
Originality
Hereafter is mostly original. I haven’t seen many other movies that looked at near death experiences from the same angle as this movie. The view of death portrayed in this movie is pretty standard. I’m mean, its not a Judeo-Christian perspective, but its fairly mainstream in the way it shows psychics and death. For example, for the near death experience, they showed bright lights and dead relatives. The psychic reading scenes had the typical “I’m getting a strong signal related to the month June. Does June mean anything to you?.” Very John Edwards-esque.
I thought the structure of the plot was pretty original though.
Message
This is where Hereafter fell flat. The message of this movie was very vague. The resolution to the conflict basically did nothing to portray a meaningful message, unless of course you are a psychic. It mostly just left you with a few things to think about and, as I mentioned before, those few things are basically mainstream metaphysical ideas. Maybe I was a little harsh in scoring this section, but it really is a glaring omission.
Huevos Factor
This was a tough one to grade. It was well written and the acting was good. I want to love it, but it never really drew me in. In many ways its a quality movie, but it’s missing some things. Overall, its not bad, but it’s not a movie I’d watch again and again.
Hereafter comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on March 15.
Breakdown:
One is about a young French woman named Marie. The film starts with her on vacation in Indonesia with her lover. She is at the town market when a tsunami hits. Marie nearly dies, but is saved by some strangers on a rooftop. After this event, she starts having flashbacks and migraines that interfere with her work, so she takes a leave of absence in order to write a book investigating near death experiences.
Matt Damon plays George Lonegan, a retired psychic. He has given up the psychic business in order to pursue a normal life. After he does a reading as a favor for a friend, his past comes back to haunt him. He tries to escape who he is, but his financial situation is bleak and people are desperate for his help.
The third storyline follows twin boys, Marcus and Jason, who have an alcoholic, heroin addicted mother. After almost losing her children to child services, the mother decides to quit and sends Jason to the pharmacist to pick up detox medication. On the way back, he is robbed by a group of hoodlums. He tries to outrun them, but he is hit and killed by a truck. Jason’s brother Marcus is placed in foster care, where he struggles to fit in without his twin brother. Since he cannot survive without his brother, he starts researching psychics to try to contact Jason.
Screenplay
9.0 |
The screenplay for this movie is excellent. I think Clint Eastwood’s greatest strength as a director is his ability to create lifelike characters, and this movie is no exception. I love the way that he makes the viewer feel distant from Marcus’ foster family and pretty much everyone in Marie and George’s lives. Eastwood makes the viewer care about the characters and feel their loneliness and isolation. The characters feel so rich and human; they are anything but shallow or one-dimensional.
The first half of this movie focuses mostly on character development. It felt rather slow and tedious when I first watched it, however it ultimately pays off. Each of the story lines is independent until the end of the movie, and the way the filmmakers bring together three compelling story lines is really elegant.
Hereafter is a very well written movie. The dialogue feels natural; it never feels forced. There are tons of one-liners that are poetic and wise.
Acting
| 9.0 |
I was worried about the acting quality of this movie at one point. One of the twins (Jason) definitely showed some weak acting at a few times. Luckily, they kill him off pretty early on on the movie, and his twin brother was a superb actor. I swear, the quality of child actors seems to be getting better and better lately.
Matt Damon delivers a stellar performance. He is great at playing people with unique abilities and head injuries. (Borne series) Damon brings those same skills to the table here. The actress who plays Marie does a very good job of delivering both her English lines and her French lines. (about a quarter of her lines are in English and the rest are in French) Marcus’ mom plays the part of a heroin addict perfectly.
Despite my initial concerns, the acting quality in Hereafter ended up being one of the movie’s greatest strengths.
Style
| 8.5 |
I liked the style of this movie a lot. The three story lines take place in England, France, and San Fransisco. Eastwood gave the scenes a strong local vibe and the result is a movie with a very international ambiance.
The special effect that is used during the near death scenes and psychic connection scenes is beautiful. When George goes into a psychic state, there are many figures in an open area. The colors seem almost inverted and ethereal. When he is focused on one person, they appear detailed and vibrant; the other spirits are shadowy and vague.
The computer generated tsunami looked fantastic. Few movies can match the realistic appearance and motion of the water in this scene. The destruction of the tsunami is very intense. You see bodies, cars, boats, and even buildings being swept up by the water and carried inland. People are caught in downed power lines and electrocuted. The whole tsunami scene is very intense and jarring.
Genre Comparison
| 5.5 |
I don’t know whether I would consider the genre of this movie to be a Clint Eastwood movie or, to be a drama about the afterlife. Either way, this movie shines. Clint Eastwood makes fantastic dramas dealing with the subject of death. The bar has already been set high, and this movie doesn’t make the cut. This is mainly because it doesn’t leave you with a clear message; just with some things to think about.
Originality
| 6.5 |
Hereafter is mostly original. I haven’t seen many other movies that looked at near death experiences from the same angle as this movie. The view of death portrayed in this movie is pretty standard. I’m mean, its not a Judeo-Christian perspective, but its fairly mainstream in the way it shows psychics and death. For example, for the near death experience, they showed bright lights and dead relatives. The psychic reading scenes had the typical “I’m getting a strong signal related to the month June. Does June mean anything to you?.” Very John Edwards-esque.
I thought the structure of the plot was pretty original though.
Message
| 1.0 |
This is where Hereafter fell flat. The message of this movie was very vague. The resolution to the conflict basically did nothing to portray a meaningful message, unless of course you are a psychic. It mostly just left you with a few things to think about and, as I mentioned before, those few things are basically mainstream metaphysical ideas. Maybe I was a little harsh in scoring this section, but it really is a glaring omission.
Huevos Factor
| 5.0 |
This was a tough one to grade. It was well written and the acting was good. I want to love it, but it never really drew me in. In many ways its a quality movie, but it’s missing some things. Overall, its not bad, but it’s not a movie I’d watch again and again.
Hereafter comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on March 15.
Breakdown:
| Screenplay | 9.0 |
| Acting | 9.0 |
| Style | 8.5 |
| Genre Comparison | 5.5 |
| Originality | 6.5 |
| Message | 1.0 |
| Huevos Factor | 5.0 |
| Overall | 6.9 |
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