...A Movie Waay Outside the Box
Christina Ricci plays the role as Anna Taylor in this 2009 horror/suspense/thriller After.Life. Growing up in a home with no father and a completely apathetic mother, Anna lives her life as though she's already dead, never attaching herself to anyone or anything. One night after an argument with her boyfriend (Justin Long) Anna crashes her car and wakes up on the exam table of Mortincian/Funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Nieson). "Where am I?" Anna asks and is promptly told that she's dead. But why then can she talk, think, breath, and move? Hop on this ride and find out if Anna is really dead, or if she's about to be buried alive by the quirky and somewhat psychotic Mr. Deacon.
Every now and then I catch wind of a movie that is said to conjure up meaningful questions and make me really think through the entirety of the the film. After.Life was supposed to be one of these films and I emphatically have to agree, but not in the sense that is at all fun. The questions that came up throughout the film, were things that would happen and then would NEVER get explained. One of my biggest movie pet peeves! The creepy parts were in fact creepy, but again had NO meaning or explanation. After.Life did have a few redeeming qualities, Liam Nieson for one. That man has talent running through every fiber of his being. A funeral director/mortician who is creepy and psychotic and you want to hate, but in the end just wish he'd read you a bedtime story. I liked Christina Ricci as well but her character development lasts all of five minutes so I didn't feel like I really knew what I should be feeling for her, empathy? Sympathy? Jealousy? I liked that it was a horror film that tired to make me think 'out of the box'. I just wish I knew which box to 'think out of'. A film with so much potential but in the end After.Life had a weak plot, thin character developments, and too many unanswered questions.
Motherly Advice: In order to understand After.Life I put all my settings on most, except the violence setting, which I set on low. This is a dialogue movie, mostly talk, little bite. But the dialogue happens while you are seeing an open wound here and there. Not to worry though, the goriest scene was the funeral director stitching a blunt trauma on Ricci's forehead. If that sort of thing makes you woozy you may want to skip the film altogether. Ricci's character wears a negligee 95% of the film, so be prepared if you have youngsters around. Also, the whole film is dark and deals with a lot of death so I would recommend After.Life for ages 14 and up.
Trisha-Confused in all Things Death Including Why There's a "." in the Title of After.Death!
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