CLINT SENDS US TO THE HEREAFTER

On the big screen Clint Eastwood has sent many a varmint to the hereafter to meet his maker, in fact in a couple of his westerns; “High Plains Drifter” and “Pale Rider” he even played avenging gunmen (that by all accounts were ghosts?)… still when I heard about Clint’s current project, I was surprised, but then again as a filmmaker Clint’s always full of surprises… “The Hereafter” is no exception.  Screenwriter Peter Morgan (“Frost/ Nixon” and “The Queen”) has penned a movie that features three stories; a French journalist (Belgium-born actress Cécile de France) who after escaping an amazing  trauma finds herself having strange visions, a young boy (Frankie McLaren) in London who’s desperately looking for answers after his own tragedy and a reluctant American psychic (Matt Damon) who is himself a lost soul of another kind. This is the bare-bones synopsis of the story, so not to give too much away.  

Bryce Dallas Howard and Matt Damon

Cécile de France; My compliments to the chef!

The public’s curiosity of what happens to us after we take our last breath seems to me at a heightened state as of late (I know that as I get older, it is for me) and perhaps it has for the old gunfighter Clint; who I can’t believe is now 80? As he told The Los Angles Times in a recent interview, "The question about what happens after we die is something that we all ask and when I read the script by Peter Morgan it was so intelligent and I knew right away that I wanted to do it.” And perhaps just as strongly the film also tackles the something that many of us have felt and have put way back in our minds; the feeling of grief and loss.

THE MAN

As a filmmaker Clint’s fearless, never being afraid to take his time with his stories; his pictures always have a cool jazz rhythm to them, he directs the way the greats like Charlie Parker or John Coltrane blew their horns (and in fact , Clint once again composes yet another haunting score for the film.)  With a splendid cast of actors (Damon good & sturdy as usual) many whom are unfamiliar faces to American audiences (the gorgeous, De France reminded me how much I love a women with French…well Belgian accents.) That’s all I’m going to say about the picture; except I really enjoyed this one, and I hope Clint "the filmmaker” has many, many more surprises for us.