Hereafter (2010)
Summary
Genre: DramaGoodies:
+ Interesting conceptBaddies:
- Boring plotlines that do not connect well to each other, - Falls short conveying its own messageA drama centered on three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — who are touched by death in different ways.
I went into Hereafter semi-blind. I had seen the trailer in theaters a long time ago, but by the time I watched it, I had forgotten almost all of the content of the trailer, and only knew a brief synopsis of the film. I will also disclaim that I did not have subtitles when watching this film, so 1/3 of the film (which follows a french executive / writer), was a bit confusing (but I got the gist of it). The story that was the most compelling involved two young twin brothers living with an unstable mother. After one of them passes, the other develops an inability to cope and delves into the world of religion and other forms of mysticism. The main story (the one with Matt Damon), was only semi-interesting, and mostly kind of boring. Eventually all of their paths cross (within the last 15 minutes of the movie, which feels very rushes, especially for what ends up happening). It feel very undirected in a lot of ways, and fell short telling the stories in a wholesome way, which is sad because there was a lot of potential for these stories (and I am a sucker for intertwining stories, this one just didn’t work on a lot of levels — too much disconnect). The film also never pushed itself to make a claim. There were mentions of religion, the ideas of psychic abilities, but nothing was overly explored at the same time.
Trailer
