I am not sure what I was expecting going in to Hereafter. The trailers made it look like an emotionally manipulative tear-jerker with a hackneyed premise. Still, it looked interesting and featured Matt Damon in a leading role and Clint Eastwood at the helm so I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Tears were certainly jerked but I didn’t feel manipulated at all. The movie explores different relationships with death and what may happen afterward and that necessarily deals in sadness. Where Hereafter shines the most is in its ability to live in this sadness and uncertainty without feeling calculated and exploitative.

Hereafter follows three separate people in different parts of the world, each of whom are dealing with both death and the afterlife in different ways. Marie Le Lay (Cecile De France) is a well known French journalist who is caught in a tsunami and has a near death experience. The things she saw while she was ‘dead’ are haunting her and she finds herself searching for someone who understands and who doesn’t think she is losing her mind. Even when she decides to write a book about it she is met with intellectually elitist pity and is told she just needs to take more time off.

George Lonegan (Matt Damon) is a blue-collar laborer in a sugar factory who legitimately has the ability to communicate with the dead. George’s brother Billy (Jay Mohr) is trying to talk him to go back to his old life of doing readings for people for money. George at one time had a certain amount of success and fame doing this but he left it behind because his ‘gift’ prevents him from having any real sort of relationship or closeness to anyone. He can’t even touch anyone as that gives him a direct connection to their dead loved ones and with them all of that person’s deepest, darkest secrets.

Marcus (George and Frankie McLaren) is one half of a set of twins living in London. When we meet him and his brother Jason they are having  portrait done in a sweet and misguided effort to help get their mom to get off of drugs and alcohol by showing her how much they love her. It doesn’t work right away as they have to hold of CPS long enough to make it look like her mom was just getting back from shopping. After this close call, the mom decides she is going to try to get clean. She sends Jason to the pharmacy to get medicine to help and he talks with Marcus on the cell phone to find out what meds she is on. The hope and concern these kids have is staggeringly sweet and made tragic when Jason is set upon by thugs and chased into oncoming traffic. Marcus hears his brother’s final moments as he is struck by a car and suddenly Marcus is alone. He is put in the foster care system as his mom goes into rehab and he is struggling to cope with his loss and his lack of understanding of what it really means. He begins looking to psychics for answers while his foster parents find themselves at a loss for how to help.

Eventually all these characters’ stories collide and each play a role in another’s journey. The way this happens makes a lot of sense and fits nicely into the story. Early on you get a sense of how these characters will come together and what they have to offer each other but the writing is good enough that it exceeds these expectations such that even though you know what you are getting, how you are getting it remains to be seen until the final act and it is very satisfying.

Clint Eastwood’s direction here is much like his direction on Changeling. He takes his time with shots and lingers on moments to pull as much as he can out of each scene. This makes the pacing very slow and may be a slog for those not engaged in the material but even with that, the shots are generally interesting and can be very beautiful particularly when partnered with good lighting set ups.

There is going to be a segment of the audience who will dismiss the movie out of hand as they don’t believe in an afterlife but the film doesn’t preach or even take much of a stand on what the survival of consciousness might be like. It also balks at endorsing any particular religion’s view of what happens when you die and instead focuses on the characters’ journeys and how death effects the living in different ways depending on circumstances.  It would be too bad if this movie were dismissed on the basis of disbelief because it has a lot to offer by way of compelling and well realized drama.

Still, compelling as I found the movie, it is very long and a lot of that length comes from those lingering shots I mentioned above. Eastwood takes the time to really draw each character’s story out until it is fully realized but some viewers may find this off putting and give up on the movie before the end. I think that would be too bad but I also understand. I am not sure if anything could be taken out for time but it does feel long at times. It is also very sad and there were few dry eyes in my theater.

Conclusion [9.0 out of 10]

Hereafter is an earnest and well drawn drama that has something to say without preaching or sanctimony and isn’t afraid to dig deep for its riches. It isn’t a fast paced film by any means and it takes its time getting where it wants to go but the journey is filled with satisfying and heartbreaking moments. Hereafter leaves conclusions about what happens when you die to the viewer and it never preaches but it explorers different aspects of life, death and life after death in a compelling and accessible way. Another great film from Clint Eastwood.