French Nathan (Romain Duris) is working at a very prestigious position at an American law firm in New York. He’s a little disconnected with his young daughter Tracey, who lives with her mother/his ex-wife Claire (Evangeline Lilly). Despite his detachment from his family, his shaking hand (in the mornings) and lonely existence, he thinks he is doing just fine…until Dr. Kay (John Malkovich) walks into his life. Kay is very enigmatic. He seems to know an awful lot about Nathan, but doesn’t explain how. He claims that he is there to help Nathan. Nathan is impatient to get rid of Kay, until he realizes that Kay is able to predict that a person will die. He doesn’t want to believe in Kay’s ability, but he eventually finds himself following some of Kay’s tips to tie up some of the loose ends in his life.
Kay is a messenger – a person who can see which person will die soon and who does everything he can so that the soon-to-be-dead can find peace his life. Nathan realizes that he might be the next one to die, so he tries his hand at reconnecting with his family…
**
Now, before I write about how I feel about the movie, I have to say the person who ever put the “thriller” label on this film, needs to be kicked wherever it will hurt the most. It is pure drama. It is weirdly engaging despite its slow pace. But thrilling? Never.
Ignore the word thriller, and definitely ignore the poster with Malkovich holding a gun. It is a touching story with some intriguing moments attached. It is just a mysterious drama about life, death, love and the afterlife. So if anyone is looking for a thrill, or a scary moment, this film won’t provide it.
Now, I enjoyed the experience of the film, despite the religious undertones and the deliberately slow story-telling. It has good acting and some stuff that has you guessing. No, you won’t be shocked at the end. I don’t know if you will like it, but I just don’t think it will surprise you all that much.
Whether or not you should see this film is beyond me, though… It really depends on your mood and whether you like movies with very clear messages. But it has nice cinematography; there’s Malkovich and well, it was nice seeing Lilly not be Lost’s Kate.
In English, with the occasional Frenck dialogue. 5.8 on IMDB. I’d give it a 6.5 or a 7.