1. Shiira

   10

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Good George Lonegan; he has a good will, integrity and compassion, someone who is probably too honest to be a psychic. In a field, or rather, a pseudo-profession, loaded with charlatans and quacks eager to bilk their clients with fallacious readings, George is the rare exception; he's for real, as his website advertises, this forklift operator, this weirdo with the gift, can genuinely speak to the dead: not in tongues, not as another person, and not with the usual theatrics and accouterments one would associate with readings. The most fascinating aspect about George, and "Hereafter", is that we're not necessarily dealing with a Christian, or the Judeo-Christian concept of heaven. Look all you want, high and low, in the foggy landscape of the souls that the near-dead(Marie Lelay, a French reporter who survives a tsunami, played by Cecile de France), and the instrument for the dead(our hero) have seen, or have access to, because God, "our" God, so to speak, the western model, is not necessarily in the diegetical details. The third protagonist, the emotionally dead(Marcus, a young English lad who is left behind with a drug-addled mother after his identical twin gets hit by a car, played by Frankie McLaren), in this filmmaker's beautifully executed triptych of incidental stories, attends a Christian funeral that is quickly replaced by a Hindu one, as a way to democratize the world religions, both east and west. George might be an agnostic, or perhaps, polytheistic. He makes no claim on knowing where all those souls he divines ultimately ascend towards. For spiritual nourishment, he turns to Charles Dickens, not the bible, or any other religious text. Enigmatic and stony, the moviegoer knows one thing for sure, the man is tired. While the hunting in the hereafter was good, George quit, when being a creep finally took its toll. Played by Matt Damon, who achieved stardom back in 1997 portraying the same sort of damaged person in hiding, the blue collar savant of Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting"(the janitor at MIT with a prodigious knack for mathematics and getting angry), differs from the wicked smaht maintenance worker in this key respect; he attitudinizes among the riffraff as a way of being alone, rather than to be part of a community(working-class Boston), a tribe. Both characters have best friends(in George's case, an older brother), nagging consciences at their disposal, the people knowledgeable enough to be horrified, by what they perceive to be as their buddy/brother's gross underachieving at dead end jobs. In "Good Will Hunting", Chuckie(Affleck) tells Will, "It'd be an insult if you're still here in twenty years," whereas Billy(Jay Mohr) reassures good George Lonegan that the chaos which surrounded their first go-around at the family business has been eliminated from the revamped organizational model. But math isn't a curse. George lives alone, eats alone, and sleeps alone, because unlike most psychics, the scam artists who tell people what they WANT to hear, the Victorian literature buff tells people what they NEED to hear. Against his better judgement, George relents and grants the woman he brings home from a non-credit course in Italian cuisine, Melanie(Bryce Dallas Howard), from Pittsburgh, a reading, and in the process, destroys, what he thinks, is his best and last chance for love. Partly out of anger, a momentary flare-up(shades of Will Hunting, perhaps), since Victoria prodded George to perform with such insistence, but mostly out of his inborn humaneness, the reluctant psychic transmits an apology from Melanie's father, who had apparently molested his daughter as a child. The fatalism of George's situation is unbearable; he's compelled to tell the truth, but the truth, as well all know, hurts, and as the words tumble out of his mouth, good George Lonegan knows the consequences from prior experiences in dealing with intimacy this potent. In all likelihood, she'll never talk to him again, but it's more important to him that the woman attains peace of mind...someday. And sure enough, Melanie is a no-show at the next class. Looking for answers, George ventures out on a literature-based pilgrimage to the U.K., where he visits a church of sorts, Charles Dickens' house, and with further extrapolation, a secularized miracle occurs, the reader of his audio-books, Derek Jacobi(read: priest), just happens to be making a public appearance at the London Book Fair. That's where the instrument for the dead converges with the near-dead and the emotionally dead, in which the trio of depressed strangers teach each other how to be alive again. It's not the holy ghost, but the ghost of Charles Dickens who looks over these sad, lonely people, and that's the subversive genius of "Hereafter". George Lonegan knows that life doesn't end after death, but he believes in "Little Dorrit" more than Jesus Christ.… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 5 users said Yes.
2. lilkillpappy

   8

   A solid and subtle movie about people and their beliefs. Very well crafted, with good acting, artfully done cinematics, a good script, and an emotionally driven story. I normally don't like Clint Eastwood films, because they lack subtlety and the acting is usually horrible, but this film along with Million Dollar baby are changing the way I feel about his films. Would have given it a 10, but the way everything comes together at the end felt forced and unrealistic to me.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
3. grandpajoe6191

   5

   The movie is definitely a well crafted one than its average. However, "Hereafter" doesn't give the strong impressions and profound air compared to Clint Eastwood's (the famous director who directed it) oscar winning movies.… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 3 users said Yes.
4. SmellyCat

   2

   This is really the first Clint Eastwood movie I have taken a strong, strong disliking for. It's got an interesting enough premise, dealing with what happens after you die, but the execution and acting just never came together ot make anything that was believable or thought provoking. None of the three storylines quite work, though Damon does try his hardest as a lovesick psychic, but he's still just phoning this performance in. Especially painful to watch are the women, Cecil de France and Bryce Dallas Howard, who just kind of obnoxious props in the overall storyline, and lack any depth. The ending is contrived, the special effects lackluster, and I really hope Eastwood gets a chance to redeem himself after this mess.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.

See all 63 User Reviews