Christina Ricci stars in this eerie thriller about a creepy mortician (Liam Neeson) who convinces her she’s dead following a car crash even though she’s really still alive…or is she dead?
Aesthetically this is an impressive debut with certain shots lifted straight out of your worst nightmares. Thematically, the story is both thought provoking and intelligent. As entertainment – it’s kind of boring. The whole affair is far too arty for its own good. I can see why it attracted the cast it did, but it was almost a chore to sit through.
Any film that requires a special feature on the DVD where the director sits and explains the story whilst pointing out clues as to what is really going on is far too pretentious for its own good. If you’re going to be bold, do it Richard Kelly style and say I’m never going to reveal the truth about my work of art, if you don’t like it – tough. Don’t sit and explain what you were trying to do because some executive has obviously said we like this but we don’t get it so we can’t sell it…unless you explain what’s happening.
OVERALL SUMMARY
After.Life isn’t a bad film, it’s visually interesting and it is thought provoking, but there’s something about it which is just infuriating. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy it that much but others may.
