AfterLife

AfterLife. A film that anyone who has had to choose between pursuing their career and being near their loved ones will relate to.

Despite the low budget, 'AfterLife' boasts a very strong cast...including Lindsay Duncan as the mother and the versatile Kevin McKidd as self-centred journalist Kenny Brogan. The central role of Roberta is played with great maturity and confidence by Down's Syndrome actress Paula Sage.

Behind the scenes, director Alison Peebles focuses tightly on the human scale of the story, and although Andrea Gibb's writing certainly tugs hard at the emotions, a healthy dose of honesty ensures that it never descends in sentimentality.

'AfterLife' was a deserved winner of this year's Audience Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

I must admit I am getting on a bit but I enjoyed this film. OK you can knock it for many reasons, but if you just go with the flow it makes great sense. Cancer and learning difficulties do not seem go well together but with all the troubles and challenges, it seems to tell an uplifting and funny at times, story to me. I felt that it came together well enough to be a very satisfying view. I do love stories that involve Glasgow scenes. Spotted many places that I know. Even the old favourites like Saltmarket worked well. Thanks to all involved. Great Monday night film. Give it a try see if you agree. As I have to write another few lines I will say that Kevin and Lyndsay played their characters very well and were very convincing.

I agree with Andy, this is a good movie. Kevin McKidd's character is believable throughout the film. We're forced to hate him and latterly sympathise with him. Paula Sage who plays Roberta puts in a good performance too. It's thought-provoking and emotive without any slush over-production. Credit to director Alison Peebles and writer Andrea Gibb for that. A very worthwhile viewing. The pace of the film is just right, raising just enough interest in the subject matter to reel you in, rather than bombard you with facts in a documentary style. Nice little soundtrack to go with the film too, again used sparingly, not to distract you from storyline. Recommended.

Rather condescendingly and disappointingly this DVD has English subtitles come up by default. Why? Because it's Scottish and whilst some accents are stronger than others, most, if not all dialogue will be quite clear to all of us, here in Britain.

Actress Alison Peebles, who's CV looks a bit bleak, debuts with this her first, and only feature film. It's quite dour, depressing at times and is held together mainly by some now familiar actors and their performances.

Kevin McKidd and Shirley Henderson, both stars in Trainspotting, here play arrogant journalist and his photographer/artist girlfriend, respectively. Both have carved Hollywood careers since. As Kenny, he starts out following a story concerning one of those now notorious Swiss euthanasia clinics, after a man suspected of being mentally unwell was 'treated' there and wasn't in a position to decide his fate for himself.

This rather pales into the background as the intense Kenny copes with his mother, May, who is diagnosed with ovarian cancer and her chances are slim. He is further bound by his Downs syndrome sister, Roberta, whose character blows through the otherwise maudlin story like a breath of fresh air. Real-life Downs sufferer Paula Sage cannot help bring smiles and tears - anyone who knows a Downs person (I worked with one) know all too well their zest for life and can be very characterful but also their vulnerabilities.

These elements do - though not always smoothly, or satisfactorily run alongside and with each other. Kenny is obviously annoyed by his sister's long term incapacity and the limits that puts on his freedom, both as journalist and future life with his new girlfriend. This is intentionally made obvious, but that doesn't make him, or the film any more pleasant.

Some reviews on other sites have said how the ending was a disappointment, or other phrases meaning much the same thing. Obviously, without even hinting what that is, I would say that I for one, was OK with it.

I have to admit that I bought this DVD in error, as I was in a shop many years ago and knew of another film with the same name, but without being able to access reference material, I bought the wrong one. I found the one I wanted later (Hirokazu Koreeda's 1998 Japanese film).

So, get this mainly for early performances - including Eddie Marsden - and a sterling and at times uplifting performance from Paula Sage.

Just a very short note to disagree with Andrew Whyte's (?) comment.

I didn't think this film had much to do with "Rainman", certainly it's about an adult with a very different handicap from the autistic spectrum problems that Hoffman's character had. Putting someone with Down's syndrome as a central and very real protagonist here is far more challenging than putting someone with autistic problems centrally and I thought the film, as well as the actress, managed that rather better than Hoffman et al. managed the parallel challenge.

I did think the acting in this was weak in places and certainly there's a lot of shouting. I thought the subplot about the brother having given up medicine was almost too lightly played but perhaps as someone who stayed that distance but always with ambivalence about medics and our delusions of grandeur, I would be sympathetic to that. Although some acting did seem stretched, I thought the handicapped daughter and mother were very, very good.

Not a great film and probably not as good as "Rainman" but certainly worth a DVD rental and our whole family, from age 9 to 49, felt it had been a tough but worthwhile rent.