Hereafter Movie Review Summary

Meanwhile, in London two twin boys, Jason and Marcus (played by George and Frankie McLaren) struggle while living with a mother that is an addict. Jason goes to the store alone, gets mugged on the way back, then runs in front of a car trying to escape the muggers and dies. Marcus is devastated. He cannot take care of his mother alone. He is taken from her to be put in a home with foster parents.

During this same time period, we see that George Lonnegan (played by Matt Damon) is a psychic living in San Francisco. George no longer gives psychic readings because the experiences are too painful. George hides his abilities, even though his brother tries to get him to go back to using them. George meets a woman he likes, Melanie (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) when he takes a cooking class. She finds out by accident that George is a psychic by hearing George's brother leave a voice mail message. Because of her intense curiosity, she convinces George to give her a reading. George makes contact with Melanie's dead father, who apologizes for sexually abusing her as a little child. With such a horrible secret revealed by the reading, Melanie runs away, unable to face George after that.

George loses his meaningless blue collar job. On a whim, he goes to London to get away from it all. He loves Charles Dickens. He finds out about a reading of Dickens' work being given by Derek Jacobi at a book fair. He goes to hear the reading. Afterwards, he meets Marie who is there promoting her new book about near-death experiences.

Marcus steals money from his foster parents to see if there is anyone that can help him contact his dead twin brother. Marcus only meets fakers, until he goes with his foster parents to the book fair and when on his own at the fair, stumbles across George, recognizing him from photo of George published online when he was still active as a psychic. Marcus insists George help him, even going so far as to wait outside in the cold in front of George's hotel where George can see him, until George agrees to help. George finally agrees.

When they make contact with Marcus' brother Jason, he tells Marcus that he will be OK alone as they are always connected and to stop wearing his hat. A breeze knocked the hat off at the train station, which kept Marcus from getting on a train that was bombed by terrorists. Marcus is very relieved to get such strong confirmation of direct communication from his dead brother.

Marie's boyfriend replaces her with another woman host on the television show who he is having an affair with and she sees her face on the posters advertising the show all over town. With the help of Marcus, George finds out where Marie is staying. He invites her to lunch by telling her he knows everything she has written in the book about her near-death experience is true. It is the start of a new relationship for both of them.

Best part of story, including ending: What is so interesting about this film are the consequences of George's psychic abilities. Even though he can reveal true things to others, sometimes they really don't want to know them.

Best scene in story: The scene where the boy Marcus loses his hat at the train station, keeping him from being killed by the terrorist attack of the train, is really mysterious until we learn the significance of this special moment later in the film.

Opinion about the main character: George finds inner peace and comes to terms with his abilities by finding a woman who can relate to the unusual experiences. They bond together easily, without fear, which is very satisfying at the end.