Dead again - A review.

I’ve tried very (very) hard to keep this review as spoiler free as possible. But I might not have succeeded. So maybe you should see the movie first.

Dead again - I love this movie to bits. I must have seen it over fifty times by now. I know this movie back to front. I've seen every frame. I listened to every syllable of audio commentary. I love it. Why? One may ask. Because I honestly believe this is the last Hitchcock movie ever made. Which, strangely enough, hasn't been made by Hitchcock.

No, the director was Kenneth Branagh. Best known for his Shakespeare addiction (and the fact that he arrogantly published his autobiography aged 29- sufficient to say, when I turned 29 I suddenly felt very old and unaccomplished). But why do I like this movie? Let me try to explain.

Directing the dead

Dead again is about a woman (Emma Thompson) who is a mute and without memory of who she is. Moreover, she has night terrors in which she relives an age old murder of a woman called Margaret Strauss. Screaming: "Disscher" as she awakens in fright. A private detective -Mike Church (Kenneth Branagh)- is brought in to find out who she is. Together with an antique dealer –slash- hypnotist (Derek Jacobi) they find out that the key to her identity can be found in her past life and with that they have to solve a sixty year old murder.
From that moment on the viewer witnesses two timelines. The present time with the investigation of Mike and the nameless woman. And -through hypnosis- the past leading up to the murder of Margaret Strauss for which her husband Roman was tried and executed.

This movie really is Kenneth Branagh trying to get a foot into the door of Hollywood. Here is a guy who can play Shakespeare the way it is supposed to be played. No question. But Hollywood is all murder and mayhem. How does a classical trained actor director tackle that? This was one of his first attempts.

Later on he sold his soul a bit by taking on Thor and Cinderella. But even there, one can't deny, he brought his skill set to make those movies way better than they ought to be. But then again he does seem comfortable making those big movies alongside pet projects like Mozart's the Magic Flute.

There are two kinds of directors in Hollywood. The Spielberg and Christopher Nolan kind who can pick up any project and make a successful movie out of it. And then there are the lesser ones who just do as they are told. Now obviously this is a lie.

If you make success after success, sure producers are willing to take a chance with you (e.g. Nolan’s Inception). But if you fail you are right back at the bench with the losers. It's like the great Orson Welles once said (to paraphrase): 

"Making movies is like painting a picture with amazingly expensive paint!".

So-in short- whenever you watch a movie you should ask yourself: "Am I watching a movie the director wanted to make?” “Am I watching a movie the director was orders/paid to make?” Or -the rare occurrence- “Am I watching a movie the director wanted to make and was ordered to do so?”

Dead again -I feel- resides comfortably in the first category. This was a script, Branagh wanted to make. And rightfully so. It is a simple straightforward story -which requires a bit of suspension of disbelief- that doesn’t pretend that it’s more than it’s supposed to be. So there’s a lot of freedom for the director to experiment. Not only to work out how to make an American movie. But also, how to deal with all the classic tropes of the Hitchcockian thrillers of yesteryears. And a chance for the British born actors (Thompson and Branagh) to try their hand at American accents.

One of the fun little meta jokes is during the introduction of Kenneth Branagh’s character Mike Church. His car –at that time- is at the wrong side of the road. Which is obvious because he’s a Brit.

The best example of this ‘experimenting’ comes from the flashbacks. Originally every scene that took place in the past was in color. However, test audiences, lost track of the various timelines. So, as a solution, Branagh decided to turn those scenes in black and white during post production. Suddenly the movie became far easier to understand. It sounds obvious. But this is one of those learning moments that the movie allowed the director.

His second attempt is even more interesting because it was the famous Mary Shelley's: Frankenstein. Which -strangely enough- is a movie everybody, but me, loathes. I never got why. I mean, it has everything. The story is right and truthful (you'd don't need to read the book anymore, really). And it has got the best -ever- performance of John Cleese.

Writing the dead

But then why do I love Dead again so much?

Dead again is a genuine who-dun-it. One of the last of its kind. Nowadays the genre has pretty much left the silver screen in favor of television –which is fine but I do miss those movies like the bone collector or Kiss the girls wherein the whole movie focuses on trying to solve the mystery, with a big revelation climax at the end.

But Dead again is a who-dun-it with a supernatural twist. The murder mystery isn’t up front in the sense of ‘a detective solves a murder that just happened’. No, the murder happened ages ago and by means of hocus-pocus-hypnosis the detective tries to solve it. Moreover, the movie relies heavily on the concept of reincarnation and plays it absolutely straight. This allowed the screenwriter Scott Frank a whole lot of fun to be had.

For instance: Actors who play sweet characters in the present are absolutely vile in their previous lives in the past (karma). And by only showing glimpses of the past story through hypnosis the screenwriter can get away with murder by introducing the element of unreliable narrating.

Once you’ve seen the movie and know who the culprit is you can rewatch it and suddenly you'll notice all those little tricks the script pulls to prevent the characters from learning the truth early on.
If you are interested in learning how to write a screenplay Dead again -I think- is a must see film.

True the screenwriter did take one or two shortcuts. For instance a rather convenient phone line-cut during the finale or Wayne Knight’s slightly spontaneous ‘memory loss’-story (really, the guy doing your research also had memory loss too? How convenient.) but you shouldn’t be bothered about that too much. The script has far many more ingenious tricks up its papered sleeve than you can shake a stick at.

As a final note I do wish to express my critique at the ghastly deadpan title ‘Dead…again’. It sounds far too much like a bad James Bond rip-off. Just from the top of my head titles like: ‘The Strauss murder’ or ‘Cut to the past’ (yeah a bit corny I know) are better titles.

The best example of this character-overlap is –unfortunately- also a spoiler. Branagh’s character was the woman Margaret Straus in his previous life. This woman was a bit clumsy at times. And, surprise, so is Branagh’s Mike Church.

Directing the living

Then there are the characters. Each and every part is cast to perfection. Which, in a movie that has supernatural mumbo-jumbo at its core, is crucial to make the story believable.

Branagh and Thompson (still man and wife at that time) show true affection for each other. Usually the love-story if often shoehorned in these kind of thrillers but here it works. Maybe because the two main actors were lovers in real life as well and therefore play of each other so brilliantly.

Emma Thompson got a lot of critique during those early years because she kept on popping up in her husband's movies (like Helena Bonham Carter nowadays in Tim Burton’s movies). So much so that there was even a little joke about her: Emma Thompson comes home and asks Kenneth: "Where are you?". He answers: "I'm in the kitchen!" "Great can I be in the kitchen too?".

 

But even the smaller parts are great. Wayne Knight –best known for his unlikable characters in Jurassic Park and Seinfeld- plays a sweet and caring reporter who is all comic relief. It might be a bit of a bit-part (he doesn’t really contribute much to the story) but his presence in never unwanted in this dark tale.

Then there’s the late Robin Williams who played what he could play so well: a smart, funny man in a serious part. There are only a few comedians who can do what he could do. Like the world’s greatest dad, Good morning Vietnam or even Mrs. Doubtfire -Williams had a knack for finding and playing parts that easily shifted between the hilarious and the tragic. This is a very underestimated skill.

Here as the ‘grocery psychiatrist’ he fulfills the function of explaining the plot to the audience. But he does it with such humor and darkness that he steals every scene he is in.

Moving on to Derek Jacobi and Andy Garcia. Each elevating their part higher than the words on the page seem to demand from them. Garcia basically plays a sleazeball but, in the end, he comes off as a rounded character that the audience can understand and even sympathize with.

On a small sidenote here. I you want to quit smoking one scene involving his character works way better than any nicotine patch on the market today.

Jacobi, then, brings all his natural charm to the table and becomes immediately likable and a bit of a hustler. Which, I think, is a great characteristic for the hypnotist character because otherwise he would really come across as a Jesus-like savior character. It’s great that Jacobi’s character has faults and the actor relishes in playing them.

 
And, finally, there are the two bit parts. Campbell Scott shows up as the (slight spoiler) fake-boyfriend. And Miriam Margolyes as one of Jacobi’s clients. These two roles are obviously favors for Kenneth Branagh but none-the-less executed perfectly. Campbell Scott even gives the best: ‘oh-shoot’-giggle I’ve ever seen on screen.

What's a thriller without a creepy kid?

If I have to mention one big fault in this movie it has to be Jacobi’s casting. I love the actor to bits, however, he is known to us movie-buffs as the stuttering Claudius from I Claudius.

According to the DVD-commentary Jacobi was cast last minute (Friday they called him, Monday he started shooting).

But, of course, the minute the movie tells us that stuttering little Frankie is the murdered anybody who knows Jacobi’s previous work knows what’s going to happen. The big reveal isn’t much of a reveal anymore.On the other hand, it’s always great to hear Jacobi stutter once more.

On a side note: According to legend Jacobi had to take speech lessons after ‘I Claudius’ to get rid of his stutter once more. Talk about dedication.

Sounds from the grave

The music is amazing as well. Great to listen to on its own merrit. But even more effective when it underlines the images on screen.

For example: The first big wall of sound explosion at the start of the movie happens at the same time when the screen is filled with the word: MURDER! Immediately the audience is captivated and interested and the soundtrack doesn’t let go after that. Silent and slow when it has to be, but harsh and aggressive when the bloodshed happens.

My personal favorite moment is during the finale when the two timelines are shown side-by-side. On the one hand the present time in which a fight is going on and on the other the past time where the body is discovered. The music manages to change beautifully between aggressive action pumped fighting and melodramatic sadness within seconds. Marvelous stuff.

Shooting the dead

As I said before Dead again was pretty much an experiment on Kenneth Branagh’s behalf. So, during his audio commentary, he says –at one point: ”This shot took forever.” Which is the following moment:

A great tension shot. A woman is unconscious but awakens just in time to see a scissor speeding towards her. This point-of-view shot increases the tension greatly and makes the female character strong once again after being overpowered by the villain before.

And this is just one of the many great shots in this gem of a movie (I also love the murder-silhouette for instance).

And then there’s the set decorating. Because this is a movie that tells two stories in two different time periods. And because this is a movie where (slight spoiler) scissors are a highly important plot item. Dead again can’t help itself by letting these elements and timelines overlap. Desks and furniture that were present in the past pop up in the present. And there is always a scissor present somewhere in the rooms. This also makes the movie so much fun to revisit (time and again) because it is also a bit of a game spotting the overlaps or spotting the scissors.

So to sum it all up: Dead Again is one of the last great murder mysteries to grace the silver screen. It has a clever script at its basis, great performances, a stunning soundtrack and amazing shots. Go see it and try to solve the mystery of Dead again.

Fun fact: The DVD -which I own (lucky me)- is actually worth money because it is rare. Somehow this movie hasn't been printed enough times to make any bucks. So, like that rare upturned aeroplane stamp the DVD of Dead again is worth something (not enough to rob my house over though - just saying. Please don't.).