Hereafter

Matt Damon plays an American laborer with a special gift- the power to see and communicate with those who have passed on when he’s in close contact with their living loved ones. While watching him struggle with what he considers to be a curse, director Clint Eastwood takes us to Europe to watch a famous French journalist and an English schoolboy deal with death in their own lives. 

This movie was not what I expected, but only because I expected one central story. Instead, Hereafter is more of a character piece, which was harder to follow. I found it slightly disjointed going back and forth between three people, places, and stories. I was waiting for the inevitable moment when they would connect, and when they did, I was disappointed. 

Don’t get me wrong; the movie is not bad. Eastwood and his cast do a beautiful job with character development, and I found myself emotionally moved throughout, but especially by the performances of Cécile De Frankie and George McLaren. If you’re an Eastwood fan, there is a special compilation feature of his body of work on the disc, the lone bonus feature really worth mentioning.

This was not the most interesting story ever told. I wanted to see more of the “hereafter,” but that was not the direction taken. The characters were believable, and they are the reason this movie is passable, but if you’re looking for anything other than an emotional character piece, look elsewhere.