HEREAFTER: NYFF 2010

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"Hereafter" is Clint Eastwood's celebration of life in all its transitional forms, death included. The story centers around a combination of characters in London, Paris, and San Francisco. French TV anchorwoman and billboard model Marie (Cecil de France) is vacationing with her boss/boyfriend (Thierry Neuvic) in Indonesia when the 2006 Indian Ocean tsunami strikes their beachfront hotel area.

In one of the best-executed disaster sequences ever filmed, the raging floodwaters are depicted with its incalculably destructive power, sweeping up cars, people, and everything else in its all path. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, factory worker George (Matt Damon) has the psychic ability to communicate with the spirits of deceased people. George's older brother Billy (Jay Mohr) wants George to get back into the psychic business he abandoned, in order to cash in on his "gift" during economically difficult times. A night class in Italian cooking introduces George to the romantically-inclined Melanie (Bryce Dallas Howard).

In London, a single mother with twin 10-year-old boys is trying to get off heroin. An accident separates the boys and sends one on a personal journey of supernatural discovery that ultimately connects the film's themes of transcendental communication.

Written by Peter Morgan, the globe-trotting script suffers from some irritating redundancies. For example,  George is constantly predicting what people want from him when they find out about his psychic ability.'

Still, the characters are highly empathetic and the story doesn't get bogged down in such obvious traps as politics or religion. A striking jazz guitar score adds color to this well-appointed psychological drama that Clint Eastwood bestows as a gift.

Rated R. 106 mins.