While at the movies awhile back, I saw a trailer for the upcoming film Eternity with Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. As a fan of three of those actors (I must confess, I'm not familiar with Turner's work), I'll likely go see it. Looks like an interesting rom-com, which I admit I'm a sucker for, but this one takes place in the afterlife, which I'm also a sucker for.
We
humans, by and large, have always had a fascination with what lies
beyond our own plane of existence. Heaven? Hell? Reincarnation? Is
this it? For centuries, through both religion and art, we've been
trying to answer that question. Personally, I always wanted to come
back and visit/haunt those I've left behind--not in a scary way, just as
a form of encouragement. I might like to haunt people I didn't like in
a really annoying way--rearranging their stuff, that kind of
thing--just because I think that would be fun.
Watching the trailer for Eternity,
I was reminded of one of my favourite cinematic theories about what happens after
we die. I first saw it in a college class I took about film comedy.
This movie is both highly comical and at the same time kind of
scary--Frankly, I always thought we died in order to get away from what
people are subjected to in this film.
Daniel
Miller (Albert Brooks) finds himself killed in a car accident (totally
his fault--spoiler alert!) and finds himself being escorted in a daze
along with a bunch of other dazed people to a place called Judgement
City. There he is assigned a lawyer, Bob Diamond (Rip Torn). Bob
explains to Daniel that Judgement City is a way station where the
recently deceased go to determine if they can move on to a higher level
of existence or if they have to go back to Earth and do it all over
again. In order to determine that, they must defend the choices they've
made in life. They're shown movie clips--moments--of their lives and
they have to explain why they did something or why they didn't do
something else. If they can show that they exhibited courage and a sense of fearlessness in life, they get to go on to the next level. Those more timid souls get to repeat life on Earth.
During
his days in Judgement City, Daniel meets Julia (Meryl Streep), someone
else who just died. They start spending their off time together, checking out
the sites of Judgement City like the Past Lives Pavilion. Before too
long they fall in love. And the question becomes will they move on to
the next level together or will one of them have to go back to Earth for
another go-around?
Written and directed by Brooks and co-starring Lee Grant and Buck Henry, this week please enjoy Defending Your Life.
Until
next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember
that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for
you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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