Hereafter (Wednesday, October 20, 2010) (137)

Hereafter is a pretty annoying movie directed by Clint Eastwood (and written by Peter Morgan) about a man who is legitimately able to communicate with the dead and two people who desperately want to speak to him about dead people in their lives. George Lonegan (Matt Damon) is a sweet man who had some brain injury as a child after which he became able to talk to the dead. For awhile he was a professional medium, but ultimately retired because dealing with so much pain and death became too much for him to take every day.

Marie LeLay (Cécile de France) is a French journalist who is on vacation in Southeast Asia exactly when there is a tsunami that comes ashore and kills thousands of people. She witnesses a girl getting killed in the melee that follows and is haunted by her. She begins investigating people who communicate with the dead and finds out there is a massive international conspiracy of doctors trying to cover up this work.

Marcus is a boy in London who has an identical twin, Jason. One day Jason is killed in the street and Marcus desperately misses him and hopes to communicated with him. Both Marcus and Marie find George on the Internet (because even though his business is closed, his website is still up and these are the only two people who have found it.... uh.... OK) and they track him down in London and ask for his help. At some point George tries being a normal single guy and meets a girl named Melanie (Bryce Dallas Howard, who is remarkably good here - possibly her only good performance ever), but ultimately can't become romantically involved with her because when they touch, he sees her dead parents. (Oh c'mon. Fuck - really?!)

There is so much terrible stuff in the script its rather difficult to get into this film at all. The premise of the story has so many dumb holes in it that it falls apart with the touch of a feather. How can George shake hands with anyone if he'll see their dead friends when they clasp hands? How is it that there's a massive conspiracy against people talking to the dead? Why is it that George is the only real medium in the world and all others are frauds? Why on earth do we need some ridiculous medical explanation as to how he talks to the dead because his brain is different?

There is one well-made scene that shows Eastwood as the talented director he is (though I think his reputation exceeds his actual body of work). There's a lovely scene when George and Melanie are in a cooking class and playing a blindfolded name-the-vegetable game. It's shot very tightly and Eastwood uses sound and lots of anticipation to create a very intense, erotic moment.

But that's about all that's good in the move. The rest worthless is drivel. Somehow this movie about a medium and talking to the dead is neither religious nor is it new age. It's just banal Hollywood garbage.

Stars: 1.5 of 4