Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | Paid | My Orble | Login
 
“I don't know how much movies should entertain. To me I'm always interested in movies that scar. The thing I love about Jaws is the fact that I've never gone swimming in the ocean again.” --- David Fincher ::::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

After.Life

July 16th 2010 04:51
After.Life movie poster
What a preposterous movie this was! After.Life (2009), starring Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, and Justin Long, is the debut feature from an ex-pat Polish woman named Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo who studied film at NYU and made an acclaimed 30-minute short called Pâté in 2001. Apparently her influences were Roman Polanski and Dario Argento, but I failed to see any aspects or elements from either of those two masterful directors. Instead I saw a decidedly dull and lifeless “existential” account of one woman’s nightmarish journey through the limbo of consciousness at the hands of a deranged mortician.
After.Life Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci as Anna
Anna (Christina Ricci) is a middle school teacher trapped within her own manifested realm of boredom and frustration. Her fiancé, Paul (Justin Long), means well, but puts his foot in his mouth, and fails to fathom his lover’s malaise. At a dinner date Paul breaks news of a job offer in another city, which swiftly upsets Anna, and before Paul can rectify the situation Anna has stormed off and is driving dangerously fast on the rain-swept highway. Tragedy strikes.
After.Life Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson as Eliot
Anna awakes on a mortuary slab with a fatal gash on her forehead and the mortician, Eliot (Liam Neeson) staring down at her about to administer a funereal injection. But Anna isn’t dead, well, so she claims. She looks pretty alive, but Eliot begs to differ, yet doesn’t really justify the reasons. He only tries to console Anna, telling her that everything is how it should be. And so the rest of this far-flung tale of unreasoning beyond the fleshy fabric of mortality unfolds.
After.Life Justin Long
Justin Long as Paul
Technically After.Life isn’t badly made, but the screenplay, by the director and Paul Vosloo (no doubt her husband) and Jakub Korolczuk is tedious and risible, like the worst kinds of television movies). The CGI special effects are unconvincing, apart from two prosthetic stitch jobs (Anna’s head, and later a dead man’s lips). Are those two sequences what resulted in the absurd Australian “R18 – contains high impact horror violence” censor’s warning?! I can’t for the life of me work out why this movie would need such a strong rating. Is it the movie’s macabre and morbid content? It’s hardly disturbing. Although dealing with a different side of death and the mortician’s prerogative, the Canadian movie Kissed (1996) was more provocative, subversive and memorable.
After.Life Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson
Not the most welcoming rise and shine
After.Life Christina Ricci
But ... I'm not dead!
So Anna tries to re-connect with Paul, whilst a young boy, Jack (Chandler Canterbury) connects with Eliot, and it becomes apparent Eliot, and probably the lad, has a “gift”. But more importantly, Eliot has an agenda, a mission. Not from God, certainly not. It seems more likely the Devil’s work is guiding his latex-gloved hands. Eliot certainly possesses a lot of conviction, and a quiet hatred courses through his psyche; for all those wretched humans who eat and shit with nothing but disdain and emptiness in their hearts. He’s doing them a favour; ridding them of their worthless existence, clogging up the planet’s surface, when they’d be better off feeding the worms six feet under.
After.Life Chandler Canterbury and Liam Neeson
The mortician as mentor to Jack (Chandler Canterbury)
I’m probably making this movie sound more interesting than it is. Despite a woman at the helm (a rare thing in the horror genre), After.Life fails to capture anything truly remarkable, apart from encouraging Christina Ricci to be naked for much of the time, which makes sense I guess, since Anna spends most of her time on the mortuary slab. Christina is always watchable, but her acting only barely has a pulse. Justin Long delivers a way-below-par performance, making his work in Jeepers Creepers (2004) and Drag Me to Hell (2009) look positively laudable. As for Liam Neeson … what is going on with his career?! He’s becoming the next Michael Caine. It should’ve been him on the slab not Christina! Alfred Molina was originally cast as Eliot, and a creepier, more effective choice that would’ve been (and Kate Bosworth was originally cast as Anna, but was replaced by Ricci).
After.Life Christina Ricci
Anna won't step beyond without a fight
Finally, while the period (dot) in the middle of the title obviously alludes to the limbo period (time and space) Anna finds herself trapped in, more than likely the “clever” grammar is designed to differentiate this movie from others with the same title. As cold and compelling as a hospital floor, After.Life is for Christina Ricci completists only (and at the risk of sounding sexist, for those who felt ripped off with Black Snake Moan’s lack of nudity).
After.Life original movie poster
Early teaser poster when Kate Bosworth was still onboard


Here's the trailer:

172
Vote

   
subscribe to this blog 


   

   

[ Link ]
Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews
Related Posts:

Comments
5 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by David O'Connell

July 16th 2010 05:56


Screen Fanatic
Sounds horrible Bryn. I saw this while browsing the new releases in JB the other day and couldn't help noticing it was another straight-to-dvd release for Neeson who really is running off the rails. The guy's pockets are no doubt jammed to the hilt but I still say he's having a prick of a year. Maybe we'll run into him one night down at the crossroads trying to negotiate his soul back.

Comment by Bryn

July 16th 2010 07:32


Horrorphile
David, hahaha! I think it's more than just a bad year ... His movie choices of late have been dodgy at best. I've always thought Christina Ricci just needs someone like Scorsese or maybe Fincher to give her something to really get her acting chops into. She certainly has screen charisma and a nuance of performance, but for the most part makes mediocre to forgettable movie choices.

Comment by Jason King

July 16th 2010 07:40


Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness

I saw the trailer for this a while ago - I think for a time it was going to get a cinema release but oh well, maybe a rainy Friday night DVD for me - I love Justin Long and think Ricci is a miserable little pouter but def a good actress - I might like this one - we will see.

Cool review of it

Comment by Bryn

July 16th 2010 07:52


Horrorphile
Cheers Jason ...
miserable little pouter
... LOL ... I only just discovered she had a breast reduction! Very unusual for Hollywood

Comment by JohnDoe

July 16th 2010 17:02


Film & TV on DVD
Hi Bryn,

I do love me some Ricci action but this one sounds pathetic.

never been huge on Neeson, though there are exceptions to the rule. As for Long, he has potential that has not been mined yet.

Add A Comment

To create a fully formatted comment please click here.


CLICK HERE TO LOGIN | CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Name or Orble Tag
Home Page (optional)
Comments
Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Separator Left Center Right Separator Quote Insert Link Insert Email
Notify me of replies
Notify extra people about this comment
Is this a private comment?
List the Email Addresses or Orble Tags of the people you would like to be notified about this comment


One per line max of 30

List the Email Addresses or Orble Tags of the people you would like to be notified about this private comment thread. Only the people in this list will be able to see or reply to your comment.


One per line max of 30

Your Name
(for the email going out to the above list, it can be different to your Orble Tag)
Your Email Address
(optional)
(required for reply notification)
Submit
More Posts
September 2010
4 Posts
August 2010
18 Posts
July 2010
18 Posts
Older Posts
813 Posts dating from August 2006
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
0
[ View Blog Summary ] [ Create A New Post ] [ Add A Comment ]
Moderated by Bryn
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]