Thursday, September 30, 2010

THE AFTER-LIFE (IF YOU WANT TO STAY AWAKE !) and TONY CURTIS RIP




Mein Gott! Watched this movie tonight, NOT sitting on the edge of my seat, but pacing the living room, picking up cushions for comfort, then throwing them back down again, to hold on to the mantelpiece. I just CANNOT watch horror movies or films that involve the ill-treatment of children. However, sometimes a film comes along that wouldn't necessarily fit into either of those categories, that just absolutely freaks me out! This film is one of them! It stars Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci and Jason Long. Written by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, Paul Vosloo and Jakub Korolczuk and directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo



A Short Summary of The Plot

After a horrific car accident, Anna (Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn't believe she's dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna's grief-stricken boyfriend Paul (Long) still can't shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn't what he appears to be. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over the other side.





Not for one moment, did this film let me take a breather from anxiety! Whilst there is no question, that this film is superbly crafted, with wonderful visual moments, it raises some very thought-provoking questions about the nature of life and death. It most certainly made me think about the question of LIVING ONE'S LIFE, as opposed to just EXISTING! On the other hand, perhaps a more instantly frightening question arose: 'When can we be certain that someone is really dead?' When the film finally ended, and I was able to sit down again, I thought about a baby that was pronounced dead a few weeks ago, and as its mother cradled it close to her heart for some hours, they discovered that the baby wasn't dead after all! There have been numerous tales of coffin lids, that have been scratched from the INSIDE! Buried ALIVE!!! Scares me to death! (excuse the pun)

I interrupted another blog I was writing, to write about my reaction to this movie, because I was so deeply disturbed by it ... STILL AM! I know I shall not sleep well tonight.

Better put on something like 'Some Like it Hot' (1959) starring Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis, directed by Billy Wilder. It is with real sadness that I learnt of Tony Curtis's death today. All three of those wonderful actors are now dead! What a film! I don't know one person that doesn't like this lighthearted but nevertheless classic piece of cinema.





SLEEP TIGHT TONY !!!




Ciao for now

No comments:

Post a Comment