Afterlife Movie Review:


Synopsis:
On the verge of the breakthrough of his career, a headstrong young journalist (Kevin McKidd) learns that his mother is dying. He suddenly finds himself forced to reassess his life and responsibilities when he inherits the care of his sister Roberta, who has Down’s Syndrome and has always lived at home. Linked only by blood, these mismatched siblings embark upon a journey of discovery that changes both their lives forever.

“AfterLife” is about a somewhat arrogant, reasonably wealthy man who discovers that his mother is dying, and finds himself looking after his
sister, who has Down’s Syndrome. He can’t be bothered with her, and basically just wants to get her off his hands; he has better things to do.
At one point he finds that he has to take her, by car (she doesn’t like flying) across the country.

If that all sounds familiar to you, it is probably because you have seen “Rainman,” I feel that AfterLife does broadly follow the template created by Rain Man and it suffers for that.

The brother, Kenny (Kevin McKidd), is a bit of a womaniser. He has a girlfriend who comes and goes in the story, and who learns to like the
Down’s Syndrome sister (again, this is taken from “Rainman”). He is a journalist, trying to get an interview with a doctor who is facing a
scandal. When he ends up looking after Roberta, the sister, he doesn’t have much time for her, and sometimes leaves her alone for a little too long.
When she wanders off, he becomes even angrier towards her. Am I spoiling anything by saying that he becomes a nicer, loving person by the end of the
film?

Roberta is not determined to be ‘normal’; she is ‘normal,’ and wishes people would stop treating her differently. She is played by Paula Sage, an
actress who does have Down’s Syndrome, and her performance is easily the best thing about the film; why did the screenwriter not explore her
character more? Well, probably because that would mean the characters would get in the way of the story. When we surely already know the story anyway, didn’t the filmmakers see the problem they were creating?

For a film about a dying mother and her handicapped daughter (the father is
absent; I think he is dead, but I’m not sure), it is surprising how little impact the film has on the emotions of the viewer. The scenes are performed
in such a standard, dull way, with such standard, predictable dialogue, that I found myself rolling my eyes.

I have nothing against sentimentality in films, but it only really works if you care about the characters. Here the characters are so uninteresting and
two-dimensional that I didn’t really think there was much to care about. “Rain Man” has an emotional climax, but that moved me, because I cared about
the characters.

Talking of climaxes, this film has a stinker. There is sequence at the end of the film that starts off as an unbelievable situation and ends up in even
worse territory; an unforgivably cruel trick is played on the audience. The sequence is designed to move the audience, but ends up being horribly
manipulative and offending the intelligence of the viewer. Audiences aren’t stupid, and they know when the film is cheating. What a cheap shot.

There is not one scene in this film that has the impact it should. There are a few sequences that are funny, yes, but when the characters talk to
each other, I can practically see the screenplay in front of me, moving predictably and uninterestingly, never hitting anything that touches the
mind or the heart. There are those phoney arguments that are reserved especially for the movies, where the other character knows exactly what the reply is.

Why don’t supposedly ‘realistic’ films not realise that, in real life, anger can be irrational, and sometimes people can’t express their emotions, and they might say things that don’t make sense, or not be able to say anything at all?

All of the actors in this film deserve better
material. This film is not based on fact, but I think a documentary on a family with a Down’s Syndrome member would be much more interesting. That
way, we might have had truth and emotion. For some reason the characters in this film think that an emotion only involves saying something loudly and making a suitable facial expression.

** (out of 5)

Adam Whyte

This award-winning Scottish film looks worryingly like a heartwarming tale of sweetness and love. And that it is! But it's also extremely well written, acted and filmed with edgy life and humour that keeps it from turning mawkish.

Kenny (McKidd) is a high-flying Edinburgh journalist on the case of a doctor (Laurenson) accused of assisting the suicide of a patient with the help of a Swiss agency called AfterLife. While pursuing an exclusive interview, Kenny gets a call that his mother (Duncan) has sprained her leg and needs him back home in Ayreshire to help care for his feisty little sister Roberta (Sage), who has Down's Syndrome. Of course, fitting Roberta into his busy life isn't easy, and subsequent events force the entire family to make some difficult decisions.

In the sibling relationship and the road trip Kenny and Roberta take at one point, the film is very reminiscent of Rainman, forcing Roberta's brother to step up to his family responsibilities. But there are other things going here as well, and until the main plot kicks in this is a lively, funny film that realistically blends urban stress with honest humour. So it's a pity that when the main narrative begins it feels overly constructed, full of coincidences and slightly too-clever connections (Roberta is a gifted artist; Kenny's girlfriend, nicely played by Henderson, runs a gallery).

What makes it watchable is the emotional core of the story and people. This is perhaps McKidd's finest performance--energetic and impatient, thoughtful and sexy. And his interaction with each of the other characters is meaningful and involving. Duncan is terrific as their spiky, stubborn mother; and Sage (who actually has Down's) is a real find, delivering an astonishing turn that's both absolutely hilarious and able to connect with us on a deeper level. This human interaction is what makes the film so engaging--and why it has won several festival awards. The characters' inner journeys are compelling and revealing. So if Gibb's script tries far too hard to interconnect them all and put them through the wringer, she can be forgiven.

Rich Cline

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