CONNECTIONS AT THE DARK HORIZON: a review of "Hereafter"

"HEREAFTER"

Written by Peter Morgan

Produced and Directed by Clint Eastwood

***1/2 (three and a half stars)

Mortality is a topic that disturbs me to my core. Certainly, over the years, especially when I was younger, if thoughts of death, dying and the potential of anything at all laying in wait for me beyond the sky, stars and consciousness itself, I could very easily wipe the thoughts away as if erasing chalk from a board. Since reaching the age of 40 almost two years ago, those thoughts have become more prominent and much more difficult to push to the furthest corners of my brain as the elasticity of time has grown blindingly apparent. I suppose that is the natural course once one reaches middle age but that knowledge does not make life’s inevitability any easier to deal with let alone to maybe build some acceptance towards.

I had especially been looking forward to viewing Director Clint Eastwood’s spiritual drama, “Hereafter,” ever since I had first read that he had picked it as his next project after the superlative “Invictus” (2009). I felt that here is a filmmaker that may really have something to say about the topic of mortality. That this man, in the late stages of his life, certainly would have confronted the issue personally (perhaps that is a reason why he has been so especially prolific over the last several years) and that he had finally found a way to explore it artistically. I am happy to say that Eastwood, once again, did not disappoint and in many ways, this dark, melancholic film with subject matter that often brings on a disturbing pall, even offered a sense of honest comfort within its troubling story and perspective.

“Hereafter” weaves three parallel stories, which ultimately converge, about three individuals who have been equally touched by the hand of death and are now attempting to wrap their heads and souls around their respective experiences. Matt Damon leads an ensemble cast as George Lonegan, a man in his early 40’s who inexplicably has the power to speak with the dead through the physical act of touching the hands of a person close to the deceased. Residing in San Francisco, George is a former professional psychic, who has abruptly exited his lucrative business, much to the chagrin of his older brother Billy (nicely underplayed by Jay Mohr), has now carved out an isolated existence as a construction worker, and lives alone in a tiny apartment.

Complementing George’s internal existential crisis are characters and stories set in France and London. Cecile De France portrays Marie Lelay, a hard-nosed French investigative journalist who miraculously survives a terrifying tsunami in Thailand after drowning, succumbing to death and obtaining a view of the afterlife. Her experience and its after effects become all consuming, as the nature of her life slipping away only to be returned has dulled her journalistic senses to her standard fare of crime and political corruption. Suggested by her superiors to take a leave of absence in order to get herself together, Marie takes the opportunity to utilize her investigative spirit to potentially uncover any similar experiences to her own and moreso, if there is any possibility of a world beyond death itself.

Shifting to London, we are introduced to twin brothers Marcus and Jason (portrayed by Frankie and George McLaren), who are desperately trying to evade Social Services and remain in the care of their alcoholic Mother (Lyndsey Marshal). The boys face their own tragedy and exposure to death as the outgoing Jason is killed after being hit by a car, leaving the more reticent Marcus to navigate the world on his own.

Dear readers, if any of you have mulled over seeing this movie, let me please give you a bit of a disclaimer. “Hereafter” is not, by any means, a visceral supernatural thriller. No matter how much the advertisements may be attempting to sell this movie in order to get you into the theater hopefully for an experience akin to “Paranormal Activity 3,” Clint Eastwood has decidedly not delivered that kind of a motion picture experience and I am so thankful that he didn’t. Eastwood has so much more on his mind than providing shrieks from the great beyond. As with several other films I’ve seen since late summer, including Aaron Schneider's “Get Low,” Woody Allen’s “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger” and Mark Romanek’s haunting “Never Let Me Go,” “Hereafter” is a meandering meditation on death and what potentially occurs afterwards but also, this film is primarily a profoundly searching film about our primal need for human connection.

Like Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" (1997) and "Magnolia" (1999), Paul Haggis' "Crash" (2004), or any number of films from the late, great Robert Altman, “Hereafter” contains a complex multi-character study as well as a narrative that depends upon and builds from its three disparate storylines. Yet, it is not nearly as propulsive as any of those films. Eastwood and screenwriter Peter Morgan (who wrote the excellent films, 2006's “The Queen" and 2008's “Frost/Nixon”) have produced intertwined stories that flow into each other as naturally as water running into a stream. Eastwood never, for an instant, forces the narrative or drama making for an elegant and eloquent experience that I felt was mostly designed to engage and provide solace to viewers. It will burrow under your skin but it is not meant to disturb.

To use a musical analogy, most specifically jazz music as Eastwood is long recognized as a major aficionado of the genre, “Hereafter” is almost the cinematic equivalent of classic jazz albums like Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” or sections of John Coltrane’s “Blue Train” and “A Love Supreme.” Visually speaking, Eastwood continues to house his film in a color palette that consists of moody shadows and smoky grays. Also, Eastwood’s brief images of the afterlife are considerably more non-descript than the darkly hallucinogenic dreamscapes of Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones” (2009). Yet aside from the visual aesthetics, the comparisons between the film to jazz music, in my mind, mostly form from more internal elements of the musical genre. Musical themes arrive, float around each other, sometimes soothingly, sometimes violently, and then they dissipate, mutate and divide only to be reconnected once again. Eastwood utilizes this technique to an exquisite degree in “Hereafter” as his thematic elements rise, fall, meet, depart and rejoin in the same way.

The film’s primary theme explores the tenuous nature of obtaining and maintaining the connections we all hope to find with each other. The fragility of those connections are palpable, especially during an extended sequence set during an evening cooking class George attends and soon shares with the lovely Melanie (played by Bryce Dallas Howard). The two obviously find an attraction to each other and during a palette testing activity, where each take turns being blindfolded while tasting all manner of culinary delights, the sequence deftly transforms into a dance of seduction. Yet, at the moment, where it seems these two may move closer together, it is immediately tested through the combined issues of George’s past history as a psychic, the power of what he is able to uncover about Melanie, as well as the consequences of Melanie’s own gentle prodding and curiosity. Eastwood asks of us how much do we really want to know about another person? How much are we willing to accept? How long are we willing to live in the illusions we create about the ones we are attracted to? So much is said with so very little and the gracefully tentative performances of Damon and Howard in those scenes speak to the film as a whole.

Further still is our need for a connection to the world at large. As George and young Marcus float sadly though life almost as living ghosts, they are slightly contrasted by the proactive spirit Marie. Also desperately attempting to find her place in her newly altered world, I especially loved the scenes where she views her on-air substitute with trepidation. Eastwood makes fine usage of a giant billboard advertising Marie Levay and her television program as well as the moment when she discovers her image has been taken away from the billboard and replaced with the visage of the new journalist. It is yet another death for Marie to face in her world as her career has defined her sense of reality. Once that virtual reality fades in the eyes of the general public, the pain of insignificance and erasure settles in with seemingly no tether to restrain her to anyone, anything or the world at large.

All of those described aspects lead me to a continuous image Eastwood delivers so effortlessly and subtly that its power did not reveal itself until the film’s final frames: the power of holding hands. The chemical and emotional sensation that occurs when one hand embraces another is greatly understated and Eastwood takes something so seemingly innocuous and insignificant and transforms it into a beautifully poetic image. Yes, we do occasionally see George take the hands of another to read into their lives and communicate with departed loved ones. Beyond existing as a plot point and character trait, it felt to me to be a symbol of our collective humanity. What is that feeling we receive when we grasp the hands of someone whether child to child, adult to child, lover to lover, or friend to friend? What is that comfort we feel and why does it occur? In the world of “Hereafter,” it felt as if the holding of hands is the physical act that makes emotions concrete. It is a figurative and literal tether attaching one person to another and all of us to our individual places in the world. A tether George, Marie and Marcus are painfully seeking to find for themselves and Eastwood delivers all of this to us with the confidence to let scenes breathe, play out and onwards like the finest of Miles Davis's trumpet solos.

All of the performances are delicately empathetic all serving a collective of characters yearning for spiritual peacefulness. In a role that often suggested to me the potential adult life of Haley Joel Osment’s character from “The Sixth Sense” (1999), Matt Damon is the definition of still waters running deeply. As always, Damon is rock solid, never playing a moment falsely or without integrity. He strongly anchors what could have been an otherwise treacly exercise and his sheer presence consistently draws you inwards.

I must give special mention to veteran character actor Richard Kind, who appears in a short early sequence where George contacts his deceased wife and the majority of his dialogue consists only of two words: “Yes” and “No.” Kind’s ability to convey a life’s history with so little dialogue speaks to his immense talent but also to Eastwood’s gift of staying out of the way of his story and actors, thus providing the actors the opportunity to perform richly.

My face burst into a grand smile when I saw character actor Steven R. Schirripa (from "The Sopranos" and "The Secret Life Of The American Teenager") in the role of a chef who teaches the nighttime gourmet cooking course. The warmth and generosity he coveys is voluminous and tremendously welcoming in such a somber film.

As for novice child actors Frankie and George McLaren, I do have to admit that their line readings are more than a little flat. While at times the effect is jarring, somehow it works in spite of their unprofessional nature. The hollowness around their eyes speaks to the soulfulness of a child spiritually lost and isolated from everything familiar to him and indeed they ultimately strike a profound chord.

So, has this film cured my very rational fear of death and dying? No. That said, I will say that over the course of it's running time, "Hereafter" did soothe for a spell as it presented a world where the potential of others walking invisibly with us was possible and the contradictory paths of coincidence and fate could join hands. Clint Eastwood has again delivered a classy piece of work, with a surprising dollop of sentiment, which felt like the ruminations of a man, late in life, perhaps sitting on a porch somewhere pastoral, pondering where he's been, how he has arrived at this particular point and hopefully, where he is headed.

It is a universal journey, while completely individual and for so many, painfully solitary. With "Hereafter," I am very thankful that Eastwood decided to share his thoughts and visions with the world. Hopefully, this gift of a movie will strengthen and increase the very connections that sustain us.