Our Ever After

I am sure at one point in time, all of us have thought about what would happen to us when we die. Dp we go to heaven, hell, or do we just fester underneath the ground with bugs eating us? Clint Eastwood, at 80 years old, directs his latest movie “Hereafter” with a nod towards towards the after-life. Perhaps with him nearing his twilight years, he has thought about the same things. However, we never really get a real answer from him in this movie. Truly, it doesn’t matter, because he gives us a sentimental movie full of non-sentimentality. 

First of all, I cannot believe the screenplay was written by Peter Morgan, whose work in “The Queen,” and “Frost/Nixon” has impressed me immensely. He is working on a different canvas here, away from the fiction/non-fiction see saw that he has excelled in previously. He weaves three parallel stories all dealing with death and after-death, with all of them interweaving at the end. The ribbon he ties these stories with look a little clumsy, and I do agree it could have been better, but they all still seamlessly tie up all three stories. Matt Damon plays George, a reluctant psychic who looks at his “gift” as a “curse.” He is one of those who can communicate with the dead, but he says “living a life dealing with death is not a life at all.”  I myself believe these people exist. Just like I believe there are people who “see” the dead. Maybe because I truly believe in them that the concept scares me. If I learn, for example, that a certain psychic is pretty good, I would never ever want to meet or have them do me a reading. The unknown petrifies me. But back to the movie. I think I have almost forgotten how Mr. Damon has turned (or has always been?) a fine fine actor. His here is a subtle, melancholy performance that breaks your heart. When his character does a flirtation with a woman he meets at a cooking class, you feel for him, you feel his pain in hoping that he, perhaps finally, can join the ‘normals.’ His story line resonated with me the most. Not that the other two are chopped liver, though. Plots crawl at a maddeningly slow place, but in the end, you realize why: simplicity is never amped up. 

I really liked the movie a lot, although half way through watching it, I didn’t.  The last quarter of the movie shines best - when things come to a head, they just do, tenderly. Well, what do you know, it’s a quiet thing. The music is wonderful: ambient, moody, lyrical. Scenes are filmed with a gauze, life for these isn’t clear and vivid; it’s dark, it’s clouded, it’s spotty. Just like real life.