The Almost Great Beyond

I just watched one of the more recent of director Clint Eastwood's myriad films, the 2010 drama Hereafter. A different title would have conveyed the flavor of the film more effectively; imagine it had been called "Death Actually."

Okay, this movie doesn't actually have the sprawling cast and numerous subplots of Love Actually. Nor is it anywhere near as good a film. But the structure is similar, in that three different (and for most of the film, unrelated) stories are presented involving characters grappling with death in a variety of ways. There's a woman who's coming to terms with her own near death, a psychic unable to live a normal life because of his visions of the dead, and a young boy who has just lost his identical twin brother.

It's all heavy material, and yet perhaps not as heavy as I would actually have preferred it to be. There are a few scenes that pull on the heart strings, and yet I feel like the movie spends too much time on the supernatural, the ethereal, to really provoke the powerful emotional responses.

A fair chunk of the cast is unlikely to be recognized by most audiences. The couple of faces likely to register are Matt Damon (returning to work with Eastwood again after Invictus) and Jay Mohr (not remotely comedic, in an uncharacteristically serious role). Still, the mostly unknowns are actually one of the stronger elements of the film. French actress Cécile de France conveys strength and vulnerability where needed, while young twins Frankie and George McLaren actually play the most emotional drama in the film, and very effectively.

Hereafter is actually a decent and entertaining film, but it's also really "just good enough" to make me imagine the even better film it could have been. It's intriguing, but stops short of going really deep. It tugs on a few emotions, but doesn't go on to present anything truly profound. I'd rate it a B-.