I didn’t have any plans to see this film but when I last went to the theater and saw Stone and told my mother I was going to the movies she said “Just don’t go see Hereafter because I want to see it and I don’t want to go alone”. So today she decided she wanted to go to the movies and it was unspoken which film we’d see. The odd part about it all is that neither one of us 1) had a clear understanding of what the movie was about and 2) we had no clue that Clint Eastwood directed it. This second point is important because we both agreed at the end of it that had we known he was the director we wouldn’t have given it a chance. (Short explanation is because we both feel that Eastwood’s films have a death march pace to them that makes us anxious to get it all over with. This film had a similar pace but was saved by good acting and good writing.)
What I did expect from this movie was a lot of schmaltz and preaching with a bit of over the top mawkishness and, much to my delight, I got none of it. Eastwood did a wonderful job of weaving the three storylines together without making it feel ridiculous when they finally connect. There was only one scene that brought tears to my eyes and it wasn’t because of anything terribly maudlin…the scene (between Matt Damon and a young boy who has lost his twin was very real and touching. The music in the film wasn’t created to force you into being sad or touched and all of the actors never over-emoted. It’s very understated and I was drawn into the film almost immediately.
Annoying noises and other things not related to the film took my mind out of it for a while but the story kept me hanging on…ultimately, I was happy to have been brought to this film and I hope others who might be avoiding it because they’re afraid of it trying to force them into believing in the hereafter decide to watch it. I don’t think they’ll be disappointed. I certainly wasn’t.