I’ve never been much of a Clint Eastwood fan as I never actually got the whole machismo vibe of the Western-Cowboy movies that he seemed to favored as an actor so when I heard that he forayed into the territory of directing and film making, I was very much hesitant to view his work.  The main question in my mind was ‘would he make movies of the same genre that has been so good to him all these years?’

But when I first saw the teaser trailer of Hereafter I pledged to see it on the big screen only for two reasons: 1) any movie that got Matt Damon was playing a recluse was bound to be a good experience as proven by the Bourne Series, and 2) my interest was piqued by the story arc of the creepy twin boys.

The movie opens with a re-telling of the Indian Ocean tsunami, focused on famous journalist newscaster Marie Lelay’s (Cecile De France) brush with death while in Thailand.  She miraculously survives but finds that she cannot focus on the things that she found to be exhilarating before the event, such as her job and her producer boyfriend.  She decides to take some time off and ended up writing a manuscript about death.  Being a French actress I’m not familiar with her work but I found Cecile De France’s onscreen presence to be very fresh and for some reason, anti-Hollywood.  Everything about her was so light and airy-her hair, her clothes and even her voice-was just so..un-American and I ended up loving it.  Her wide eyes spoke volumes and her stance really gave Marie Lelay’s character the confidence of a believable modern woman.

The second story arc opens with solitary factory worker George Lonegan (Matt Damon) who we discover to be a legit psychic when he was forced by his older brother to do perform a reading.  We learn that he was once famous for his “gift” but he decided to give up the “life filled with death”, opting to live a mediocre life as a manual laborer in a factory.  Matt Damon, being the viable actor that he is, was very much effective in this role.  At first I thought he would just be reminiscent of his other reclusive character, Jason Bourne, but his little tweaks were very useful in providing a very bold distinction.  Personally the biggest testament to his talent in acting was that he made me believe that as handsome as he was, he still had women-problems.  Being the good-looking man that he was made that very difficult to pull off. That, my friend, required real talent.

The third story arc was about these British twins, Marcus and Jason (George and Frank Mclaren), who were covering up for their heroin addict of a mother from the social services who definitely deemed her unfit to raise two children.  Jason, the chattier older twin, ends up dying in the film and the rest of the story arc was filled by Marcus’ journey of recovering from the tragedy.  Whoever picked these two kids deserve a medal; they were unconventional looking which, weirdly enough, added to their overall normalcy.  My heart went out for their struggles and I found myself tearing up with these two words, “Goodnight, Jason”.

All in all it was a quiet film; it wasn’t muddled by over explanations and useless narratives.  The plot was driven by emotions and I would have to give a nod to the director who managed to provide us with one cohesive and compelling story.

A 9/10, owing to the fact that the little romantic twist in the end was very much reminiscent of movies from the 1950’s.