a voice of dissent is buried here

Rating: 2/10 (21 August 1999)

it does not surprise me that most people like this movie so much. it is often well-acted, has a well concealed plot twist, and many, albeit canned, touching and startling moments.
unfortunately it just isn't very smart.
one can imagine the writer(s) asking this question, "what if some people with apparent psychological maladies really have insight into another world?" wouldn't that be nice. unfortunately this is not the world i am familiar with. in my world death and grief, the cruelty of human beings and the bonds of love, these things are mysterious. it is not that my imagination of the variety of 'what ifs' is pedestrian. it is that i have a wild imagination and am still wracked by uncertainty.
this film glosses over the fundamental human theme of this uncertainty and instead assumes a fantasy world of magic and ghosts and purposefulness to every event. by showing us the ghosts, not only are we assaulted with cheap special effects, but all uncertainty evaporates...the struggle of the boy and the psychiatrist are a foregone conclusion. we are left with just the fantasy world.
and it is not a rich fantasy world. it is mundane. it is commonplace for us to assume that our lives have meaning and that everything in them is somehow, given just the right perspective, understandable to us. this film supports that common assumption. that, i imagine, is why this run of the mill prostitute caked in obvious musical make-up is so attractive to many. it confirms their unquestioned biases.