Lives intersect in Eastwood's 'Hereafter'
This movie may be as close to "Sleepless in Seattle" as Clint Eastwood ever gets.
His spiritual drama "Hereafter" begins with a harrowing act of God a tsunami wipes out an entire island village and closes with a subtle, gentle touch of hands, just the opposite of what we'd expect in a regular Hollywood film.
Leave it to Eastwood to direct a movie about the hereafter that's mostly about the therebefore.
"Hereafter seesaws between moments of moist tenderness and utter heartbreak, occasionally sandwiched between languorous scenes stretched to test the most durable of derrieres.
Eastwood, now 80, combines old-school storytelling with Peter Morgan's New Agey script, and it reads just a little like M. Night Shyamalan on Prozac.
A beautiful French TV journalist named Marie LeLay (Cecile de France) becomes swept up in the tsunami in one of the scariest, best-rendered natural disaster sequences ever put on film.
Violently struck by debris, she drowns and becomes transported to a mystical place of bright lights and shadowy human figures.
But two Good Samaritans revive her. She continues to live her life, but nothing like she did before.
In London, inseparable twin brothers Marcus and Jason (George McLaren and Frankie McLaren) have been covering for their alcoholic mum so Child Services doesn't take them away from her.
A terrible accident occurs, and young Marcus is ill-prepared to face a world tortuously alone and frightened.
George (Matt Damon) lives in San Francisco. He possesses a gift for communicating with departed loved ones, and no longer can bear the psychological burden of making money with his talent.
This dismays his capitalistic brother Billy (Jay Mohr), who doesn't get that George has achieved the wisdom to realize you shouldn't always give people what they think they want.
How the lives of these people intersect is a little far-fetched, but then, we are talking about a movie that quietly affirms the existence of an afterlife and the ability of the dead to communicate with living loved ones.
Bryce Dallas Howard, looking mystically angelic as a doe-eyed redhead, provides "Hereafter with one of its saddest, most poignant scenes.
She plays Melanie, a young woman who meets George at a cooking class under a famous chef (Steven R. Schirripa).
The moment she becomes aware of George's gift, she begs him a favor, and George is torn between granting her wish and knowing what it will cost him.
The moment he decides is a real heartbreaker. Then, we really come to understand why he calls his gift "a curse.
Damon plays George as a slightly overweight schlub who carries way too much psychological weight on his sagging shoulders.
De France emanates sex appeal as she segues from a materialistic journalist to a spiritual explorer and novelist.
With his lost eyes and sorrowful face, George McLaren could be a character from a Dickens' novel, and many are referenced here.
Ultimately, "Hereafter belongs to Eastwood, whose polished craftsmanship shines through every scene, regardless of the speed at which it moves.
Would a much younger Eastwood have directed such a daring supernatural drama that winds up on a ridiculously swoozy romantic note?
Maybe.
But he didn't until now. Even fans of Eastwood's violent action films must give him credit for constantly stretching his artistic boundaries.
As Dirty Harry once observed, a man's gotta realize his limitations.
"Hereafter proves Eastwood hasn't reached them.
“Hereafter”
Three stars
Starring: Matt Damon, Cecile de France, George McLaren, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jay Mohr
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated PG-13 for language, disaster images. 129 minutes