Señales del más allá

I thought at first that this movie happens in France, because of this green country, old mansion and french actor. But, it is located in Canada that gives me another reason to make a trip there.

The story is not original because a love story beyond grave has already been told in "Ghost" or "Always". But, here, the entire movie relies on the performance of Andie and she's excellent as always. It's not a common thing to have an actress of her age being the focus of an entire movie thus her fans (like me) should be happy.

In addition, it's has been a great pleasure to see again the wonderful "Lois" (Margot Kidder) past her middle life too. She is always so dynamic, mindful and her voice will be forever unique.

However, the script would have been better written because Andie is unfortunately very passive: She witnesses very strange things but never show reaction except fear and anguish and keeps all for herself. This isn't very believable.

At last, the movie is called the "Last Sign" and if I have seen signs, I wonder which is the last because none struck me very much.

The widow Kathy (Andie MacDowell) is grieving the loss of her husband Jeremy (Tim Roth) with the feeling of guilty. Jeremy, who was an idealist doctor in the beginning of his career and lately a drunkard, died in a car accident after seriously arguing with Kathy, when she was leaving him with their two daughters and a son. Her financial situation is not good, so she starts working in a clinic and rents a house in her property to the French engineer Marc (Samuel Le Bihan), who is temporarily expatriated in Canada. The tenant Marc has a great connection with her young daughters and especially with her teenager son, and falls in love for Kathy. However, she sees the ghost of her husband, and she feels not comfortable to have any relationship with Marc.

The intention of this movie is very good: it would be about a woman, living with the feeling of guilty after the loss of her abusive alcoholic husband, but formerly her beloved mate. Unfortunately, the screenplay is weak and has many flaws. For example, the financial problem of Kathy with the bank is used only for the introduction of the character of Marc, and is completely forgotten along the story. Why the ghost of Fergus needs to call her by phone, if she was able to see him? It was good to see Margot Kidder again, but her character is useless in the plot. Anyway, this movie is not so bad as indicated in some reviews and I found it a good entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Gritos do Além" ("Cries From Beyond")

Okay...I admit it, it wasn't Citizen Kane. But thanks to the people who did the sound in this movie, it isn't even Citizen Le Bihan. Why oh why would you hire a fabulous FRENCH actor who is PLAYING a FRENCH engineer and make him sound like he's from Ohio?? It doesn't make sense. Like much of this film. The concept was good...widow of a great guy/rage-aholic creep keeps sensing and seeing him everywhere. Strange happenings abound. She lives in fear. Her children's lives are turned upside down. Mom desperately needs a wonderful, caring man in her life to help heal her and her children. Bingo...wonderful, caring guy materializes. The happenings increase. What's going on?! How will this turn out? Will she reject the wonderful, caring man or will they all live happily ever after?

GREAT actors--GREAT concept--GREAT locations. Not-so-great execution, dialogue, special effects. And just plain BAD dubbing of an extraordinary French actor. HINT to the sound department--in the future, remember this: if he's French, and he's SUPPOSED to be French, it's OKAY if he has a French accent!

Kathy is widow that still remembers his husband, and alcoholic and violent man that died in accident car the same day they broke up. She fells guilty and is not able to rebuild her life. The apparition of a new neighbor, Mark, and the strange things that begin to happen in her life will change this. The story is very typical and has anything new, in most moments, it is very stupid, as things are happening without any logic. Most characters are empty, just a name and a body, with no flavour in them. The film develops with bad attempts of being frightening and the ending is, well, it is easy to do it better. It is a film for Sunday afternoon, when nobody is watching TV. But well, it is not very boring.

OK, I am a red-blooded female. Sometimes I rent a flick simply because a good-looking actor is in it. When I saw the DVD box for this one I recognized Samuel Le Bihan from "Brotherhood of the Wolf". Since I thought he was "all that and a bag of chips" in that one, I decided to check him out in this one. Also, I like Andie MacDowell well enough and I was curious to see what their fellow cast mate Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the Christopher Reeve "Superman" flicks) looks like these days.

Undeniably there are much better flicks out there, but this one wasn't all bad. There are a few kinda creepy/mysterious scenes and some interesting camera shots and angles. And, yes, Samuel Le Bihan provided some enjoyable eye candy to offset the creepy-as-usual Tim Roth. By the way, has Roth ever played a sympathetic character? If you like the current hit TV series "Medium" starring Patricia Arquette, you will most likely enjoy this movie. It sort of reminded me of some story lines on that show.

In general, I believe film audiences are jaded in the 21st Century. We are desensitized by the plethora of special effects and blast-'em-up extravaganzas with high body counts. It seems that fewer people want to invest the time in a lower-key film, such as this one, in which seemingly random details come together in at least a somewhat cohesive whole at the end. That's not to say the film wrapped up all loose ends, because it didn't. That is one reason I didn't give it more stars. Another reason is the uneven acting. In other words, some of the cast provided more convincing portrayals than others. And, Margot Kidder is as goofy as ever. I hadn't seen her in anything in a number of years.

For my time and money, I would take this film any day over "The Blair Witch Project", which, to me, is the worst movie ever.