After.Life: Review By Bryan Yentz

When one contemplates death, it's typically not after the fact. Meaning, we tend to think upon the afterlife before we're actually sentenced to it. Yet, in Christina Ricci's case, her morbid thought process on the great equalizer only occurs after she's reduced to the coroner's table. Through this understanding, the film creates a compelling dynamic between the living and the dead by utilizing an antagonistic force as confused and awry as the dead woman he's speaking with.

As if it's always her time of the month, Christina Ricci plays a young woman by the name of Anna who's mostly unappreciative of everything going on around her--especially that of her devoted boyfriend, Paul, played quite believably by Justin Long. That soon changes, however, after a sudden car accident sees her milky body stone-cold in Eliot's (Liam Neeson) mortuary. The weird thing? Well, she may or may not actually be dead. Thus, within the confines of the cadaver-preparation chamber, Ricci must discover the truth around her death and life, all the while hoping against hope that her man-love, Paul, finds a way to possibly save her.

Now, from the synopsis above, it would seem as though After.Life were rather linear (and well, it kind of is). I'm sure most people would automatically think, "Great, another 'Sixth Sense'--because we needed another." But to automatically assume that, would be to rob the film of an incredibly interesting dynamic created between Anna and Eliot. Actually, it's honestly Neeson's character that not only makes the relationship, but the entire movie as well. While Ricci plods about from corner to corner as she whines and moans, Neesan must constantly calm and console her; try to make her understand the mortality which has already fleeted her, and the fate she must now accept.

Really, if I could, I would base this entire review solely on the character of Eliot Deacon, since his antagonist motivations eclipse anything else the narrative tries to accomplish. The simple understanding of what Eliot's character was, thought and did, remain long after the credits roll-and because of that--creates one of the most interestingly delusional villains in recent cinema.

Sadly, though, the rest of the film surrounding this self-misunderstood foe is not nearly as strong or all that compelling. Writer/director, Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo (try saying that ten times fast), paces the film in a rather slow manner by utilizing moments of surreal imagery and sequences which don't add a lot to the overall tale at hand. Thus, the rather base storyline feels needlessly stretched out as there's just not enough going on to warrant drawn-out moments of drama since they don't have much--if any--affect on the plight at hand. And in regards to the haunting imagery tossed about, rather it be Ricci standing nude in a shower as she holds her beating heart, or a shadowed cavern of death in which a young mutilated girl walks, much of it feels disconnected and very questionable is to its very usage when considering the climax and denouement. It's as if, Vosloo wanted to be more artsy or "deep" and applied visual content to fill that void, when it had no real business being in the film other than to look "neat" and distract viewers into thinking that it all held more significance than it really did.

After.Life feels like a short film which was elongated to make full use of a feature run-time. Because of this, it's slow and doesn't have enough going for it outside of funeral-director Eliot to really deliver a horrifically thrilling tale. Through Neeson, the movie has a very intriguing part, but it can't salvage the overall mediocrity that is the whole.