Helmed by a first-time director, After.Life managed to attract a talented cast despite its shortcomings. The picture was directed and co-written by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo whose only previous experience was an award-winning short made during her time at NYU. It’s an ultimately forgettable film, yet it managed to snag some big-name talent.
Christina Ricci stars as Anna Taylor, a pretty, young schoolteacher in a rocky relationship with successful attorney, Paul Coleman (Justin Long). One dark and stormy night, Anna and Paul get into an argument with Anna stomping away in a huff. She loses control of her car and wakes up on a slab in the basement of a funeral home run by Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson). Even though Anna can still walk and talk, Eliot says she is dead. You see, Eliot has the power to speak to the recently deceased. Anna’s soul is in a transitional state before crossing over to the other side. Eliot is there to help in said transition. Or is he?
Anna has her doubts while Paul is convinced Eliot is hiding something. Of course, the inept police force doesn’t believe him. There’s also a creepy, little boy named Jack (Chandler Canterbury) who may also possess similar abilities to Eliot.
Wojtowicz-Vosloo wisely chooses atmosphere over cheap scares and gore. She has a good command of production design with effective uses of warm and cold colors, such as red and violet. She has a good eye, but the screenplay, which was co-written with Paul Vosloo and Jakub Korolczuk, leaves much to be desired. The dialogue tends to be heavy-handed with corny lines like, ”You’re a corpse. Your opinion doesn’t count anymore.”
After.Life strives for ambiguity, but the results are steeped with obviousness. There’s no real mystery behind the movie even without all the easy to spot clues. In fact, the longer the film plays with the audience, the more frustrating it becomes. Vosloo tries to throw us for a loop with a few creepy dream sequences. However, once the character wakes up, it feels like the rug is pulled out from under us. The filmmakers seem to be showing off rather than advancing the plot.
As he always does, Liam Neeson lends some credibility to the role even if his performance won’t stick in your memory. Ricci has incredibly expressive eyes and excels well as the troubled girl in distress. Justin Long is the only weak link in the main cast. He gives an overwrought performance in a role very similar to his turn in Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell. Long’s strong suit is comedy and he lays it on too thick when attempting more dramatic roles.
The central concept of a mortician communicating with the corpse he’s preparing would be an interesting premise for a short film. Here, the concept feels padded out with flat characters and little in the way of suspense to hold your attention.
Rating: *
No comments:
Post a Comment