Three people in Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter feel the reverberations of their brushes with death: a Frenchwoman miraculously survives a tsunami; a London kid yearns for his recently deceased twin; a genuine medium, played by Matt Damon, tries to avoid employing his abilities. Hereafter is tedious. It portrays characters consumed with notions of an afterlife, but doesn’t underpin their feelings to a realized portrayal of a sweet hereafter. Their pronouncements are not elevated beyond poppycock. It would have been brave to imagine and show what happens to the characters when they approach the great beyond, but the film doesn’t stick its neck out for them. There is nothing here for an audience member to believe in. –Hillary Titley
This article appears in Oct 28 – Nov 2, 2010.