HEREAFTER: Reviews and Features in the Media

[higashimori]

 " Everybody has had a near-death experience "

 India Times

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-interviews/Everybody-has-had-a-near-death-experience/articleshow/7671422.cms

 

Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon talk about spirituality, clairvoyance, and the themes that have connected Clint's most recent films

Could Clint Eastwood actually be feeling his own mortality? The 80-year-old filmmaker averages a movie a year and shows little sign of slowing down. His latest picture, Hereafter releasing today by Warner Bros Pictures, the second collaboration with Matt Damon, connects strangers through their fear of death and uncertainty that awaits us in the afterlife.

 

So have either of you ever had an otherworldly or near-death experience?

Clint: I remember when I was very young my dad was taking me into the surf on his shoulders and I fell off. I can still remember today — the colour of the water and everything as I was being washed around in the surf.

 

Because the film handles the mystery of the afterlife, it's virtually impossible for you to provide answers to the questions Hereafter asks about what's next.

Clint: Yeah, it raises a lot of questions, but that's where it ends. The audience might have had some near-death experiences out there. It would be interesting to see what those answers are for each person, but they are going to have to come up with the answers.

There seems to be a theme running through your most recent films, dating back to Unforgiven, about characters fighting to stay relevant as they age. Is this a conscious effort?

Clint: I like to think there are different themes in every film, and I don't know if there's an ongoing theme. I think it would be easier for somebody else to evaluate, than it would for myself. Everything to me is spontaneous. Unforgiven is probably an example of a script that I liked right away but thought, "This is great, but I'd like to do this when I'm older." So I stuck it in the drawer for ten years and then took it out. Other projects just come to me. They just sort of fall. I wish I could give you some sort of pseudo-intellectual answer that would be great.

[KC]

" Everybody has had a near-death experience "

India Times

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-interviews/Everybody-has-had-a-near-death-experience/articleshow/7671422.cms

This interview was apparently first posted (by Sean O’Connell) on Filmcritic.com, on Oct. 18 2010. Amazing how these things get passed around from site to site without attribution. I'm not even absolutely certain that it originated on Filmcritic.com.

Our friend El Cigarillo would like this quote (at the end of Clint's last answer; omitted in the Times of India version):

I wish I could give you some sort of pseudo-intellectual answer that would be great, and maybe if this were a French cinema class I'd have to fake something. [Laughs] But I'm not really the person to ask on that.

http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2010/10/interview-hereafter-matt-damon-clint-eastwood/

[higashimori]

" Hereafter makes the supernatural sound 'cool' "

 Shaikh Ayaz reviews Hereafter.

 http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/review-hereafter/20110311.htm

 

There's a line in this wonderful example of hyperlink cinema that, in a way, could characterise its creator Clint Eastwood's [ Images ] status as one of the torchbearers of modern-day filmmaking. Matt Damon's [ Images ] George Lonegan, an obsessive lover of Charles Dickens, says he never understood why people talk about Shakespeare. He'd prefer Dickens, he insists and has a picture of the English author framed on his wall.

Similarly, Eastwood's cinema compels you to rank him higher over others. The director's foremost quality is to engage its viewer in a beautifully nuanced narrative. The 'Man with No Name' has come far, far ahead as a storyteller and today, has a name that is often associated with cinema of substance.

Hereafter could have been mundanely titled Afterlife, if not for Eastwood's ability to look at life differently.

I'd like to believe Hereafter is more philosophical than supernatural. Its characters are measured and sane. George, a psychic with an unbelievable ability to make connections with the dead, is restrained and wishes to live a normal existence. Twice, he alludes to a life of normalcy, giving credence to the fact that he's fully in control of his powers and emotions. He tells his brother, in a defining scene, 'It's not a gift, it's a curse.' His brother thinks it George's duty to help do 'readings' but the only thing George aspires for is a normal life.

Without getting pedagogical or making it sound like a spiritual discourse on life after death, Hereafter uses its plot to go beyond what is expected. It's a very contemporary and competent look at a theme that may not otherwise seem relatable in a highly hedonistic modern-day existence. Eastwood makes supernatural and spiritual curiosity sound cool. Just the way he made cowboys look cool.

 ☆☆☆☆★

[KC]

Nice review, thanks for posting!

I was trying to figure out what "Rediff" is. Apparently, it's a "news, information, entertainment, and shopping portal" headquartered in Mumbai, India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rediff.com

[higashimori]

" "Hereafter" - A New Vision of the Afterlife "

 Jinkyn Fortun, Yahoo! Contributor Network

 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7950381/hereafter_a_new_vision_of_the_afterlife.html?cat=40

 

Director Clint Eastwood really knows what he is doing. He delivers a great supernatural drama in "Hereafter."

The film is about emotions and the feeling of love and trust. It is not about ghosts wanting to tell their tale. "Hereafter" is about the loved ones the dead leave behind and what the former would do just to find the answers to the question most of us ask, "Why?" - Why him/her? Why me? Why now? So on and so forth. The film explores death and the afterlife with grace, passion and love. It really shows us that death is something of a great mystery to all of us and a lot of people are asking what happens when we all pass.

The film also has a lot of great locations as well as a great score. Added in the mix is probably one of the greatest special effects created for a film. In the opening part, we get to see what a tsunami really does and we get to feel as if we were the ones drowning.

Clint Eastwood delivers a true emotional film. He depicts the afterlife not as a sleazy horror-filled world, which is what most films depict. He communicates to the audience that feeling of loss and the feeling of closure. He is able to share to the viewers what his characters are feeling, making us all connect with them. Maybe some of us can relate, maybe some are sceptical. The decision to believe is ours to make.

[higashimori]

" Exclusive! Hereafter star Matt Damon talks life after death "

 iVillage UK

 http://www.ivillage.co.uk/exclusive-hereafter-star-matt-damon-talks-life-after-death/129189

 

Check out this exclusive feature on Clint Eastwood's Hereafter starring Matt Damon. We've got behind-the-scenes footage, sneak-peek clips and interviews with the stars - including Matt Damon discussing his views on the afterlife...

From acclaimed director, Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino, Unforgiven), and starring Oscar® winner Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, Invictus), award-winning French actress Cecile de France (A Secret), Jay Mohr (Street Kings, TV's - Gary Unmarried) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Eclipse, Spider-Man 3), Hereafter is an emotionally stirring tale that examines what we believe might - or must - exist in the hereafter.

George (Damon) is a blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife. On the other side of the world, Marie (de France), a French journalist, has a near-death experience that shakes her reality. And when Marcus (Frankie/George McLaren), a London schoolboy, loses the person closest to him, he desperately needs answers. Each on a path in search of the truth, their lives will intersect and be forever changed by what they believe.

Hereafter will be available on Blu-ray Triple Play, Double Play, On Demand and Digital Download from 13th June 2011.

[higashimori]

 I discovered this old review just today.

 http://www.duclarion.com/entertainment/hereafter-a-tale-of-life-s-ever-after-1.1726923

 " ‘Hereafter:’ a tale of life’s ever-after "

 By Steve Coulter

 

In his new film "Hereafter," director Clint Eastwood analyzes some big themes of life, death and the afterlife, the latter dominating the film's other serious subject matter.

Eastwood, like his protagonist in the film, George Lonegan (Matt Damon), admits he does not know what happens after we die. Yet, the film offers a plausible and moving drama through three interwoven stories of living and dying that is more concerned with the humanistic aspect of death, rather than its religious component.

By choosing to steer clear of religion, Eastwood and screenwriter Peter Morgan are able to express what they imagine a human is capable of when he or she passes on.

The beauty of "Hereafter" though, is not Eastwood's creative articulation of humans in the afterlife, rather it is how he brings together three vastly different people together in order to prove that we are all capable of living beyond death.

[KC]

^ Steve Coulter is the sports editor of the "University of Denver student newspaper since 1899."

[higashimori]

 " Rick's Flicks Picks on AWN   HEREAFTER (2010) (***1/2) "

 By Rick DeMott |  October 13, 2010

 http://www.awn.com/blogs/ricks-flicks-picks/hereafter-2010-12

 

For this film, 80-year-old Clint Eastwood looks at death. Based on a script from Peter Morgan (FROST/NIXON), the film weaves together three different experiences with death — a near death experience, the loss of a loved one and a metaphysical look at the issue. Each is told on a haunting emotional level. No matter what your own personal beliefs are about the afterlife, this film actually reinforces the most important part of life.

 

The film's stance on the afterlife is a hope of something after death. It brings in science as a possible explanation to the supernatural elements. Because George is an exception as a real psychic, the film never justifies those that prey on the vulnerable to make money. He gave up being a paid psychic because it was making living impossible. This section of the film works as a "what if." It's hard to get to know someone naturally when you can know them in a second. For Marie, she is simply looking for answers and wants to talk about her experiences, but hits roadblocks in the mainstream. While many people believe in an afterlife, they are afraid to talk about it frankly without feeling awkward.

The end wonderfully and unexpectedly brings the three storylines together. It hints at how the three characters will meet and builds nice anticipation for it. George could really help Marcus, but will he be willing to do so? What would George see if he touched someone who has experienced death first hand? The three are like kindred spirits adrift in the world, looking for answers and each other. It's the people that we share common bonds with that make life worth living.

[El Cigarillo]

This interview was apparently first posted (by Sean O’Connell) on Filmcritic.com, on Oct. 18 2010. Amazing how these things get passed around from site to site without attribution. I'm not even absolutely certain that it originated on Filmcritic.com.

Our friend El Cigarillo would like this quote (at the end of Clint's last answer; omitted in the Times of India version):

http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2010/10/interview-hereafter-matt-damon-clint-eastwood/

Clint is, and always will be , Da' Man!!!!!

[El Cigarillo]

Interesting how Clint's style has moved so far away from his mentor, Don Siegel and towards Sergio Leone.
The lean, taut Siegel style has been replaced with the slow, sometimes overindulgent late-Leone directorial style.
HEREAFTER really needed to be editied more carefully. The cooking class scenes could have been excised easily
(yes, Clint was probably trying to make a point about how our senses can be expanded and explored more fully).
Likewise all the scenes regarding Derek Jacobi and Little Dorrit and Dickens (yes, the story was obviously "Dickensisan')

I dunno, but Clint's recent films are just too slow, and need judicious pruning.

I am looking forward to J>EDGAR - that is is a subject that would be well served by a long  running time
bruce

[El Cigarillo]

Time magazine's Richard Corliss:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2017816,00.html

anybody who compares this film to the masterful, moving, thrilling, magnificent  GRAN TORINO
is nutz!

[The Schofield Kid]

A Sydney Morning Herald list of the most disappointing films for this year mentions Hereafter.

Hereafter (worst Thriller / Horror film)

A group of films that don’t really group easily, Contagion saw Steven Soderbergh attempt the ensemble thriller and deliver a whole lot of set up with no real back end, Never Let Me Go failed to explain to anyone who hadn’t read the book why everyone who has keeps raving about it, and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark was a  horror film that was only scary for the quantity of Australians who sounded more convincingly American than Katie Holmes without sounding actually convincing. Or American.

Still, Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon’s “I hear dead people but I don’t want to” tale of a tortured psychic and the bereaved, was a film that also tried the ensemble approach, and threw in the Boxing Day Tsunami and London Bombings as well. Eastwood is a master director but this was a woeful mis-step for he and Damon.

SMH

[KC]

^ It's also possibly the worst western that was released last year, to say nothing of the worst musical comedy. For the simple reason that it is not a thriller, or a horror film, or a western, or a musical comedy.

And that should be "for HIM and Damon." Don't they have any copy editors at the Sidney Morning Herald? Or at least a grammar checker on the computers?

[Gant]

So right..