AFTERLIFE Rating: (out of 5 stars) Director: Alison Peebles Producers: Catherine Aitken Writer: Andrea Gibb Director of Photography: Grant Scott Cameron Cast: Lindsay Duncan, Kevin McKidd, Paula Sage, James Laurenson, Shirley Henderson Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew

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(Read more 2003 AFI Film Festival reviews)

Review by: Warren Curry
11/12/03

Constantly knocking on the melodramatic door of a television movie-of-the-week, but always refusing to enter, the Scottish film Afterlife is an above-average family drama that sets its sights high for this type of work. First-time feature filmmaker Alison Peebles and screenwriter Andrea Gibb manage to streamline their weighty concerns and always stop one step short of letting the film's emotional content overwhelm the story and characters. The movie doesn't always payoff its setups in the most effective ways, but the spirited effort is hard not to appreciate.

Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting, Small Faces) plays Kenny Brogan, a young, hotshot journalist, who is working on his biggest story yet, concerning a doctor (James Laurenson) suspected of assisting the terminally ill in suicide. Nailing this story will be Kenny's professional crowning glory, and a lucrative job offer in New York looms on the horizon.

Kenny's single-minded determination is forced to take a detour when his mother May (Lindsay Duncan), who has just sprained an ankle, requests that he come home to help care for his younger sister Roberta (Paula Sage), who has Down's Syndrome. This responsibility throws Kenny's life completely out of balance, and he grows resentful of his family's interference -- as unintended as it may be -- in his quest to gain bigger and better things. But when May reveals that her health is severely failing, Kenny is quickly required to make the biggest decisions of his young life.

Afterlife certainly holds some similarities to a film like Rain Man, especially as it pertains to Kenny's character, but is told on a much more down-to-earth level. Kenny's plight is identifiable, and while some of the decisions he makes are purely selfish, the character's not developed as hopelessly out-of-touch or inhuman.

A climactic scene near the conclusion plays quite strangely, although thematically it ties into one of the issues that the film explores. It seems initially designed for the sole purpose of upsetting the audience, and when it backs off of the shockingly bleak territory it nearly leaps into -- with the help of some extremely fortuitous timing -- the way it resolves itself is just clunky. (And maybe it's because the Scottish accents make the dialogue difficult to understand in this moment, but there's a key component to this scene I'm not sure if I completely understand.)

The work of the cast is strong across the board, although one of the bigger names, Shirley Henderson (Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, 24 Hour Party People), is given a completely disposable role as Kenny's kind of, sort of girlfriend. The film was shot on DV, and it appears to be a case of the format being used strictly due to budget constraints, because 35mm would've certainly strengthened the look of the movie. But as DV goes, it's by no means a bad looking film.

The emotional vulnerability will definitely help reel in the attention of some viewers, and for the most part the film avoids pushing sentimental buttons strictly for the sake of doing so. Alison Peebles employs a straightforward, economical directorial style and wisely lets her fine actors carry the weight of the movie. Afterlife is not quite as moving or provocative as it aspires to be, but it's an all-around solid work that showcases some fine performances and very noble intentions.

(Screened at the 2003 AFI Film Festival.)

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