Hereafter

The assembled reviews of Clint Eastwood's new movie, Hereafter, average out to a score of 50 on Rotten Tomatoes. Given the touchy-feely subject, the afterlife, I guess a split decision is to be expected, but it's better than that.

A.O. Scott in The New York Times wrote:

"One of the reasons that “Hereafter” works as well as it does — it has the power to haunt the skeptical, to mystify the credulous and to fascinate everyone in between — may be that its subject matter is so clearly alien to the sensibilities of its makers. Communication with the dead is a risky business, principally because once the door to the beyond opens a tiny crack, all kinds of maudlin nonsense come rushing in. But one of Mr. Eastwood’s great and undersung (sic) strengths as a director is his ability to wade into swamps of sentimental hokum and come out perfectly dry."

David Denby in The New Yorker is less kind, but does report on the scriptwriter Peter Morgan's motive:

" 'We can be so close to somebody, know everything about them, share everything with them, and then they’re gone and suddenly we know nothing,' Morgan said.  The bafflement that comes with loss is certainly a strong enough emotion to get a story moving, but, by turning to spiritualism, visions, and the afterlife, Morgan has wandered into hokum without illuminating grief."

I can relate to the gone part.