Afterwards (2008)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Excellent, a Must See

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

From the reviews I gathered that the 2008 Afterwards is an adaptation of the novel in French, Et Apres. This explains the theme of us not knowing the hour of our own deaths, and even more importantly, not knowing before then, which of the people we know well and who are well, will die and how. But the interest of the story doesn't explain why the director handled the theme the way he did. What are the images of the Quebec countryside, summer and winter, in direct contrast with? After all, Claire is a photographer of nature who is insisting on photographing in the snow at night a plant that only blooms one day a year. She thinks husband Nathan is a creep for being a natural at his job as a New York City lawyer. Cinematographer Pin Bing Lee and film editor Valerie Deseine have filled a large number of earlier frames with office building windows. All this is woven together by the music of Alexandre Desplat. Surely an intention was for all of us to see a bright white light surrounding each of us, in preparation for not knowing when the next NYC 9-11 will be and how.

Here's yet another film that attempts to seriously suggest the existence of such things as life after death, clairvoyance, and whatnot, and have us get all misty-eyed about it.Instead of treating these Final Destination subjects as the comedy or horror or comedy-horror themes they rightly are, we're given a dull sort of mystery that's supposed to also be a love story. Who is going to die next? (Not a big surprise if you've seen more than two films in your life.) The fact is, we're ALL going to die. Nobody gets to live forever. And only those who take their own lives get to decide when they die. The rest of us gamble a minute at a time that we won't suffer a fatal brain aneurysm or get killed by lightning.The thing about death is that it's final. Sure, there's medical death, which can be survived, and is sometimes intentionally used for surgical purposes. But then there's the death we all know about, the death that is either embalmed, plastinated, burned, or allowed to rot, beyond which nothing ever returns. Ever. It will happen to all of us.If people actually knew when or how death was coming, this would be a markedly different world. There's a lot of money to be made in things like setting up your will the way you want it before you die, instead of what it was 10 years ago when you last revised it. Or trimming back your insurance policy so it doesn't go all the way to age 90. Or stepping down from an organization so it won't be left suddenly leaderless. Probably the best use is so that would-be assassins and other murderers are caught and prosecuted immediately after their (apparently unstoppable) crimes.Of course, this film's biggest mistake is in the idea that we really only need to care about people when they're about to die. Most of us know that's not true, and we don't need the supernatural to justify it.I've noticed some negativity about Romain's performance, but I thought it was reasonable for the role.

The man and the voice of John Malkovich have carried forward from 'Burn after Reading' to this movie but this, unlike that movie, is a pure drama thriller and not a comedy. The beginning and the end take a bit of thinking about and thank goodness for DVD and the chance to play it a couple of times to try and understand it.There was a period three quarters through the film when I felt the film definitely dragged, Nathan visiting his divorced wife Claire in wherever it was and his reluctance to fly home back to New York,but part from that, the film entertained and provided lots of interest.Malkovich plays a Doctor who is a messenger with the vision to foresee the death of someone with a glowing white light. Dr Kay (Malkovich) first encounters Nathan the lawyer as a child and it is later in life when he sets out on a mission to deliver the message to him literally.Of course, things don't pan out quite what you might expect but this is a fine drama, plenty of suspense, nice scenes and you get what you pay for. You shouldn't be disappointed.Just love that eerie voice of Malkovich, so unique! Just imagine if Anthony Hopkins possessed it for Hannibal!

Interesting idea. The charm of Malkovich. And the delicate silhouette of Romain Duris. A movie as old question. About life, love and essence of every day.About death and expectations. About truth and believes. The taller is not very inspired. The words are dust, the nuances are broken mirrors, the lights are only grills of evening.It is a good movie but the taste is not sensational. All is known and the first expectation dies in short time.Nothing is fake, ugly or boring. But the pieces of others movies makes a rusty picture. All seems reheated food. Good intentions are contours of truism. The end is twilight of a promise. A great promise. But it is not very bad; every reminder is a lesson. About the story, evenings , life and hope.