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Dead Again

Magnificent performances tell of the whirlwind courtship, marriage and horrific murder of a beloved wife in Los Angeles back in 1949 -- a murder thought to be committed by the hands of the loving husband. Roman (Kenneth Branagh), a famous composer and opera conductor, falls madly in love with a pretty pianist, Margaret (Emma Thompson). The two are inseparable and two people couldn't have been inclined to be together if the stars themselves had a say in it. Dead Again is a puzzling story of five dominant lives interwoven within each other. The story is unfolded back-to-back with the present and the past being a mirrored reflection of life and death systematically played out in front of us.

When a woman with amnesia, who will later go by the name of Grace, (also Thompson) is taken in by Mike (also Branagh), a private detective, they begin to work together to uncover her identity. What they unravel becomes more terrifying and obscure than they could possible have known. What makes this movie twice as interesting and challenging is having the actors of "Grace" and "Mike" playing two uniquely different characters in the past and present while presenting it in a believable manner, even when the past and future start to mingle and form as two couples rather than as four. At best, this can be tricky and cluttered, not to mention difficult to pull off, but Dead Again succeeded beautifully. Told through classic black-and-white elegance, the past is revealed to us during the present time through Grace's nightmares and with the assistance of Franklyn (Derek Jacobi), a hypnotist and antiques dealer, whose peculiar interest grows curious with the unlocking of clues in Grace's past.

The character of Dr. Cozy (Robin Williams), a psychiatrist who now works at the grocery store due to his unethical means of treating his patients, is performed with a startling mixture of vulgarity, anger, emotional rampages, and a cool steady hand of intelligence and intuition about the human spirit. Dr. Cozy has some heavy insights into what he feels is happening with Grace and someone else close to her heart. A reporter, Gray (Andy Garcia), who knew Roman and Margaret (and at one time took a fancy to her, but without Margaret giving into his desires), sets his sights on Roman when accused of her murder. Gray is now devastatingly sick, hospitalized, and divulging his own theories of the murder when Mike sends him a visit.

The characters shine with depth and versatility and their top-quality performances leave a well-earned notch on each of their acting belts. Simply magnificent and the direction is powerful. I love the way the film walks you through the lives of the people so nonchalantly at times and then startlingly takes it away from you to throw a fast curve ball. Creepy, chilling, and eerie is what comes to mind as the music draws you nearer to the truth. It has such a huge impact in the way the movie delivers the right "gut instinct" sensation. Dead Again is a sharp and memorizing movie. It keeps you guessing at the possibilities of what may, or may not, have happened that devasating night many decades ago and the lives who lived through the ordeal, only now to surface and be caught in the vivid reality of justice. Dead Again comes highly rated (by me) as one of the finest movies in the genre of mystery, suspense, and romance. It is worth the rental fees to watch it again and again. Oh, one last thing -- watch carefully at the very end of the movie, it's subtle, but the meaning behind it is irreplaceable.

Written by: Lynda Dale MacLean

Reviewers Rating: 9.5
Reader's Rating: 8.73
Reader's Votes: 18

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