**** (out of ****)
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia, Robin Williams, Wayne Knight, Campbell Scott, and Sir Derek Jacobi.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh & written by Scott Frank.
1991 R
“Dead Again” is a movie in love with being a movie. Powered by a story involving reincarnation and murder, it’s too implausible to be treated with absolute gravity and realism, so director Kenneth Branagh (“Henry V,” “Peter’s Friends,” “Much Ado About Nothing”) goes, not quite all out, but fairly far, with theatrics and energy and style. There’s a private eye, amnesia, opera, past lives, hypnosis, an electrocution, sweeping romantic gestures, someone pulling scissors out of his own back, a costume ball a la “Eyes Wide Shut,” lots of candles, and a great way to quit smoking. “Dead Again” is like opera, and moves at a good pace and keeps us well-informed of its major twists and turns, while leaving lots of little surprises for repeat viewing.
A mute woman with amnesia (Oscar-winner Emma Thompson) wanders into a church orphanage that is unequipped to handle her. The father calls upon a former orphan, an ex-cop-turned-private eye (Oscar-nominee Kenneth Branagh, with an initially laughable American accent) to look after her and find her identity. It’s only a matter of time before, however incredulous they both are, they end up in the antique store of an elegant English hypnotist (stage legend Sir Derek Jacobi) who tries past-life regression on Thompson. Branagh oozes skepticism until Thompson is able to speak, both during and after her hypnosis, and while hypnotized she tells the tale of Roman and Margaret Strauss (Branagh and Thompson again, in a glorious black-and-white Los Angeles of the 1940s). He was a composer who fled the Nazis, she the only pianist in the orchestra who could stand him, and they married and moved into an atmospheric mansion, leading to possible infidelity with a greasy newspaperman (Andy Garcia) and murder. Through more hypnosis, and consultations with Branagh’s defrocked psychiatrist-turned-grocer (Robin Williams), it becomes apparent that a reincarnated murder victim might be seeking revenge on a reincarnated murderer, or vice-versa, and the game is afoot.
Personally I don’t like the idea of past lives. I’m more in favor of individuals being able to choose between good and evil no matter what the situation, and I have no idea why some reincarnation enthusiasts are so eager to be trapped in the personalities of dead people or in the rotations of the planets. But I’m a Gemini and we don’t believe in horoscopes. Regardless of whether the filmmakers take reincarnation seriously or not it makes for a great addition to the existing elements of the noir mystery, and there are twists and turns in “Dead Again” that I would not dream to reveal. I’ll admit, Branagh the director likes to get carried away and is something of an acquired taste, but “Dead Again” is also virtuoso filmmaking, with energetic but not disruptive camera work, terrific acting, one-take scenes that last for minutes, and atmospheric flashback sequences that exist somewhere between a memory and a dream. There are also the bits involving scissor-stabbing; both my wife and my mother have seen “Dead Again” about a dozen times each, and still like to squeeze me by the arm during the scary bits. Maybe it’s been a while since I’ve been scared, but I still have a lot of fun with “Dead Again.” It’s one of the best movies of 1991.
Finished April 14, 2002.
Copyright 2002 Friday & Saturday Night