Dragonfly

Plot synopsis:
Dr. Emily Darrow is a pediatric oncologist and her husband, Dr. Joe Darrow, is an emergency room physician. Although Emily is expecting their first child, she decides to join a Red Cross team going to Venezuela. Torrential rains and flooding force the evacuation of the village where the team is staying. As she is about to board the bus, Emily telephones Joe to assure him she is safe. It is the last time he will speak to her. The bus plunges into a river and is swept away. All on board are drowned.After Emily's memorial service, strange things start happening. Recalling that Emily asked him to check on her patients, Joe goes to the pediatric oncology floor. A child gives him a drawing of a wavy cross and says Emily wants him to go there. Joe is mystified and questions the child, but only succeeds in upsetting him. Other children have also drawn wavy crosses. One reports seeing Emily in a rainbow near a waterfall. At home, the Darrows' parrot Big Bird is frequently agitated and begins pulling his feathers out. Joe puts away some of Emily's belongings and the next day they are back in view. He dreams of seeing Emily at the hospital, on an elevator and at the end of a long hall.Emily had a small birthmark on her shoulder. Because it was shaped somewhat like a dragonfly, Emily often bought items with dragonfly motifs, including a crib mobile that arrived after her death.A young woman who unsuccessfully attempted suicide is brought in. Joe turns her over to another doctor, saying he is only interested in helping people who want to live. A nurse reports him to the hospital director, who urges Joe to take some time off but Joe refuses. He feels closer to Emily at the hospital. Eventually he is banned from visiting the children.By now Joe's friends know something weird is going on. They invite him to dinner and introduce him to a grief therapist. She urges Joe to make an appointment but he brushes her off. He tells his neighbor and friend, Miriam Belmont, about the wavy cross and Emily wanting him to go there, wherever it is. She thinks Joe is imagining things and shares her own story about losing a loved one. Big Bird goes berserk in the kitchen and Joe calls Miriam for help because he has to go to work. When he returns, she shows him a wavy cross drawn in a pile of dirt from a broken flowerpot. The cross is also drawn on the windows. Miriam thinks Joe did it himself and begs him to get help.Joe visits a nun, Sister Madeline, who was fired from the hospital because she overstepped her bounds by interviewing children about their near-death experiences. At first she won't talk to him but once convinced he is not a reporter, shares what she believes. This convinces Joe more than ever that Emily is trying to contact him. He even speculates that she might not have died after all.Joe's behavior continues to raise concern at the hospital. Everyone thinks he is on the verge of cracking up. One night he is asked to stay with a patient until the kidney transplant team arrives. The man is dead but his heart is kept beating by machines. Suddenly the man calls Joe's name, twice. When the team arrives, Joe refuses to let them touch the man. He gets into a fight and is arrested.Miriam, who is an attorney, picks him up at the police station. She has talked with the hospital director and they aren't pressing charges on the condition that Joe take an extended leave of absence. He accepts his friends' invitation to go on a rafting trip and puts his house up for sale. While studying a map, he finds the wavy cross. It symbolizes a waterfall. On a map of Venezuela, Joe finds a waterfall near the village where Emily was staying. He takes the next flight to Venezuela.When he arrives, he is met by a guide. The village where Joe wants to go is nearly inaccessible since the flood. In any case the guide tells Joe he cannot go there without permission. Joe insists on going and they get as far as the river. The floodwaters have receded enough so that Emily's bus is visible. The guide tells Joe they must go back. But he jumps into the river and manages to reach the bus. He forces the door open but the bus is empty. His added weight causes the vehicle to drift and submerge. On the verge of drowning, Joe sees Emily. She pulls him to safety and he collapses on the riverbank.When he catches his breath, the guide is waiting to take him back. But Joe runs toward the village, believing that against all odds Emily survived. The natives are suspicious and threaten him with their spears. He holds up a picture of Emily and they recognize her. The guide translates that Emily came to them via the river, dying. They could not save her body but they saved her soul. A woman leads Joe into a grass hut where a baby girl is lying in a basket. At last Joe realizes what Emily was trying to tell him; that their baby survived. He picks the baby up and sees a birthmark on her foot. The native woman repeats a word that the guide translates as "dragonfly."He wraps the baby in his shirt and leaves. In a voice-over, he doesn't know if Emily was in her right mind enough to see the baby, nor how the child survived a premature birth in the jungle. But Emily wouldn't give up until the child was safe in his arms.Several years later, Joe and his daughter are shown playing outside on a beautiful autumn day. The little girl has Emily's curly blonde hair.

Tags: comedy, mystery, paranormal, flashback, romantic, melodrama, tragedy, suspenseful

Review:
The man who thinks his dead wife is trying to reach him is Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner).
But then the film continues, providing it with an ending that must have popped into many heads from the audience, probably dismissed by a lot for being too ridiculous.Still, the premise and the first hour are good enough to keep us entertained and although it should not work as a thriller, it does.
at least as noble attempts.Certainly, there are lots of plotholes, a little bit too much "violin" (teary!) music, the ending IS out of a hallmark card, and Kevin Costner is somewhat dull at times.
The ending is surprising in a good way and the atmosphere of the film is very well realized.I write this review because I wonder how low is the medium IQ of the regular voters on IMDb ?
Few years ago you can rely on the IMDb ranking, but now you can miss many good movies and go see a lot of rubbish, if you consider the vote from present site.If you are a little bit romantic, see this film, you will like it..
The movie did bore  you a little at times, but in the ending the story picks up and flows  greatly.
The movie is about Joe (Kevin Costner), a doctor whose wife  dies in a bus accident in a foreign country while working for the Red  Cross.When she dies, Joe is devastated, and works overtime at the  hospital, and is uncomfortable staying at his own house with his wife's  menacing bird.
The twist in the ending gives some credibility to the journey of the lead character, but Kevin Costner's character exhibited characteristics one would not expect of a doctor, let alone head of the emergency room.
This movie seemed to focus primarily on Kevin Costner's character through placing utmost importance on his perspective when development would have been better achieved through more insightful development of the relationships that support him.
He bounces ideas off of his pragmatic, but concerned neighbor (Bates) and works overtime trying to make heads or tails out of the confusing signals he thinks he is getting from Thompson (but may also be making up in his grief-stricken mind.)  The film has a fair amount of atmosphere and a couple of minor thrills along the way, but ultimately it winds up being not only improbable, but downright preposterous!
As it stands, some people will be surprised by the resolution.)  Thompson has some lovely moments as the wife, but her relationship with Costner is sketchy at best, robbing the audience of a true emotional core to the story.
This is a wonderful study of bad scriptwriting, from the amateurish exposition (Kathy Bates: "I know because I'm a law school professor"), to the silly self-awareness (Susanna Thompson: "I'm going to a disease infested, primitive jungle village while I'm six months pregnant, because that's who I am!"); to the 20 scenes of exactly 5 minutes each, to the obvious ("shocking"?) ending.Ho hum..
A beautiful Love story with a great ending to the movie.
I recently brought Dragonfly (mainly because i have a crush on Kevin Costner) i found the movie good in the way that its slightly different to other movies out there, and that it doesn't go over the top with the haunting of his wife.
I thought that the movie puts a nice thought into your head that this may not just be it, there may be more to life than what we think, and that a love as strong as "Emily" and "Joe" can go on even after death.
If these things sound like a story well worth hearing then you are probably target audience for this film and may well enjoy it.
The mix of jump scares and romance doesn't work that well but, like I say, it pushes the right buttons to suit the target audience, even if it pushes the "emotion" one a bit too hard.Costner is roundly depressed from start to finish and can't do much more with his character than mope around the place looking sad before occasionally looking "frenzied" and "determined".
The support cast will have plenty of familiar faces but none of them do much of note; Morton and Rifkin are just sort of "there" while Kathy Bates takes the money for a few scenes and a week or so's work.Overall this is not a terrible film but it is very much aimed at a specific type of viewer and, if you're not into this sort of thing, then it is unlikely you'll get much from it although it does enough to be distracting and watchable if still nonsense..
Another romance-ghost story thriller, with another bad Costner performance and added thrills at the end don't help and, most likley hurt the film.
*Spoiler-ish (but not really)* Despite some moments of dubious acting from both Kevin Costner (a very short haired??) Kathy Bates, and a completely over the top scene where Costner jumps over a waterfall and drowns (?) in the same bus that his wife did about a year earlier which allows him to see her ghost and get the answers he's seeking.
Yes, despite all that I still liked this movie.It's a unique story and was scarier then I was expecting, delving into ghosts and things that go bump in the night.
Ultimately I guess its a love story too, as Dr. Joe Darrow, is plagued by what he believes are messages from his wife after she dies while on a red cross mission in Venezuela.
No, if we want to find something redeemable in `Dragonfly', the suspense film du jour, we need look no further than the appearance of Linda Hunt, the homuncular actress who portrays Sister Madeline, a nun who specializes in documenting near-death experiences.
But if you happen to be rubbing your eyes or simply shaking your head in disgust at what is unspooling before you, you will likely miss her two minutes of screen time.`Dragonfly', in this new era of cover movies (a phrase coined by Cameron Crowe referencing his abhorrent `Vanilla Sky'), looks no further than `The Sixth Sense' for its source material.
This is not a good way for any Kevin Costner film to open.
Regrettably this sentiment will likely resound in your head with unintended irony.Costner plays Joe Darrow, an emergency room doctor who has been working twenty-four hour shifts, seven days a week since his wife's death.
We won't bother asking why the only image that any dying person in Chicago has in their head is Joe Darrow.But ultimately `Dragonfly' ends, because movies do, and for that we can be grateful.
So thus we have Dragonfly, which concerns one mans (Costner) quest to find out what happened to his missing, presumed dead wife, aided by her attempts to guide him from the grave.A film about faith, courage and belief, Dragonfly ambles through the pedestrian story and credibility goes straight out the window once Costner returns to the jungle.Best bit: The spooky scenes within the house and Jeffrey waking up.Worst bit: The tired 'one man who is right, but everyone thinks is crazy storyline'.
In Kevin Costner's latest movie, Costner plays a doctor who recently lost his wife while she was away doing work for the Red Cross.
I love the Stephen King type films and this was like one of them to me, the story is intelligent and well told, this film moves at the right pace until the end, to finally touch your heart and soul!; is remarkable how this story combines the drama with the tension of some scary scenes, specially the night scenes at the house.
ABOUT THE FILM: Kevin Costner is here Dr. Joe Darrow a great doctor that shares the profession with his wife Emily (Sussana Thompson), his wife decides to help some people in Venezuela, but suddenly she had an accident on a bus who felled to a river and her body was never found; Joe start to face his life without his wife, and he began to see Emily's patients, most of them were child with terminal cancer.
I can't say I'm a huge fan of Kevin Costner and I'm bored of films that copy the same style of 'Sixth Sense' but there is something about 'Dragonfly' draws the viewer into the storyline and the main character's plight.When paediatrician Joe Darrow's wife Emily dies in a bus accident in South America, where she was doing mercy work, he is left devastated and struggles to cope.
Or even if Emily is alive out there?Costner, who plays Darrow, gives a surprisingly effective performance as a man deeply grief-stricken, caught between letting his wife go and risking insanity by pursuing these messages his young patients pass on.
After a while, it bogs the story down.Kevin Costner, as a doctor still grieving over the recent loss of his wife, turns in a magnificent performance, and is the greatest strength of the movie.
It seemed more like a treacherous demon was impersonating his wife to torment him and destroy what was left of this poor man.Or else the kids were in some sick conspiracy, as other characters including Costner's best friend (Kathy Bates), an iconoclastic lawyer, accuses.
I really can't believe I actually wasted 2 hours of my life to see Kevin Costner ridiculously, some big clichés about ghost stories (some scenes are really cut-and-pasted from the absolutely wonderful "The Sixth Sense"), a horrible storyline and much more!
In Dragonfly, Kevin Costner plays one half of a power couple; he's a doctor, and his wife is helping kids in Venezuela.
Continuing my plan to watch every Kevin Costner movie in order, I come to Dragonfly from 2002.Plot In A Paragraph: Dr Joe Darrow (KC) is a grieving doctor, who starts to believe his late wife is trying to contact him from beyond the grave.
I think this is Kevin Costner's worst movie since his first good role in Fandango.
I didn't like it in the cinema, I didn't like it when I bought the DVD, and I struggled to make it to the end watching it here.Kevin Costner who has saved worse movies than this has his work cut out here..
Dragonfly is an uneven supernatural thriller starring Kevin Costner who plays a bereaved husband Dr Joe Darrow whose pregnant wife Emily was killed in a bus accident while working for the Red Cross in Venezuela.Joe becomes convinced that somehow his wife is trying to contact him from the other side.
This includes a dragonfly paperweight that suddenly rolls off a table and his wife's patients in hospital who are kids being treated for cancer claiming to have been contacted by her.Joe's friends become concerned that he is going mad and his hospital bosses want him to go on extended leave.Director Tom Shadyac resorts to horror film style jolts and suspense.
However as Joe's behaviour becomes erratic we just end up thinking much early on why does he just not go to Venezuela to find closure especially as his wife's body was never recovered.Of course eventually that is what Joe does leading to a sentimental and a not very surprising ending.Costner is in his element by putting another maudlin performance but the film becomes too corny and mawkish too often..
Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner) loses his doctor wife Emily (Susanna Thompson) while working charity in Central America.
It stars Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates, Ron Rifkin, Joe Morton and Linda Hunt.
Plot finds Costner as a grieving doctor who starts to believe he is being contacted by his late wife through patients near death experiences."She was my ultimate partner, my best friend and lover.
It's also worth mentioning that this isn't loaded as statement to say "there is" something after death, that the white light thing waits for us all, because it is disputed during a dinner conversation that puts up a valid argument against the near death experience.Always interesting in themes and played deftly by Costner (who always does great brooding and inner turmoil) and Bates, this is a film worthy of inspection by seekers of the heart tug.
Finally I want to say that Kevin Costner does not rescue the film and he shows us the worst performance of all..
It's true that Kevin Costner has played better, and it's a shame the characters of Kathy Bates and Linda Hunt were so less developed.But nevertheless, I had quite a good time and I thought at some points the movie was quite scary.
So, when he seems to be getting messages delivered by kids with near death experiences he sort of believes them.I think this movie was made well  and cast even better.
Though boring in first half film picks ups the pace in the second half with an excellent ending...all together good movie, enough for a Saturday night.
I expected this movie to be like "What Lies Beneath," lots of scary/jump scenes, and plot lines that twist and make no sense until the very last second.
I probably jumped out of my seat 4 times during Dragonfly and the ending was a complete shocker and really paid off all the effort that Costner's character's wife made to contact him.
Sure it feels a little long and soggy in the middle but there's enough bumps and jumps along with a twisted ending that will make seeing this movie worth it.
I generally find his movies intensely boring and heavy handed with a "gee whiz look how great I am at directing and ACTING" message, but this movie didn't feel like it was just Kevin Costner's show.
The supporting cast is very good and believable if not slightly cliched: Darrow's 3 friends are always at the bar when you need them, his boss is an a-hole, the kid in a coma on the oncology ward is a shameless replica of the kid in "the sixth sense," and the hard nosed lawyer next door with the heart of gold who just happens to be a widowed lesbian played with mediocre pizzaz by kathy bates.The Story is simple- and yes it could have been a half an hour long w/ out all the filler, but then what kind of a movie would that be?
I didn't buy it and I'm not a Kevin Costner fan either."Dragonfly" is a love story about two doctors.
Their next scene is just as odd as the three try to lure Joe on a white water rafting trip to take his mind off of Emily.Like "Dragonfly's" spiritual predecessor, "The Sixth Sense," it is the child actors who steal the show.
Kevin Costner gives a warm performance as a Doctor who is haunted over the death of his wife.
At the other end of the spectrum is the intellectual movie that you have to actually think about and have a good time doing it.BOTH movies are worth seeing; it just depends what you are there to see.
If you want to take a friend to a nice movie with a good ending then I can't say more for Dragonfly.Give it a rest folks.
Sounds familiar?Let me put it this way, if Kevin Costner had not starred in "Message in a Bottle", and if I hadn't just watched "The Mothman Prophecies" (Richard Gere) 2 weeks ago, then I would have said that this movie is alright....
There are a few good jolts here and there, and a nice unforseen twist in the end that makes the film all worthwhile.Casting was impeccable, as no one else could have played Joe Darrow except Kevin Costner.
PRETTY GOOD MOVIE - BUT THE ENDING IS THE SURPRISE.
Kevin Costner did a good job as well as little used Kathy Bates and Ms. Hunt.
Unfortunately, Kevin Costner only plays on two levels; bemused and confused.Poor use of such great actresses as Kathy Bates and Linda Hunt.
Unfairly dismissed as cheesy,"dragonfly" is an endearing movie.Kevin Costner is perhaps not a great actor as some people understand it (thespians such as De Niro,Day-Lewis ,Nicholson or Penn).But in "dragonfly" he avoids pathos and gives a restrained performance,not devoid of emotion,which comes straight from the heart.He's given strong effective support by Kathy Bates ,whose character represents the common sense,rationalism,which is some kind of paradox since Costner portrays a physician,so par excellence a scientist,whereas she is a law professor .There are weaknesses,and the way the hero discovers the "ark" is rather far-fetched ,but the ending is smarter than you may think,and the little black boy in the hospital is really cute .The subject of the "tunnel" is straight out of the ark,but the treatment it's given is not that bad after all..
The Bates character was definitely needed so that the Costner character would have someone to talk to but her motivations needed to be explained more.However, I did enjoy the movie (even jumped out of my skin a few times) and I wouldn't mind seeing Dragonfly again..
To begin with, I'd say that if Costner and Bates' parts were played by unknown actors, I probably wouldn't think much of this film.
I thought the ending was silly and schmaltzy but at least it did tie things up .I like Costner and he does a good job here.
good movie with a great ending.
It's interesting and keeps you staying to find out what happens with the mystery, but it's definitely not the best Kevin Costner film ever made.
That's the kamikize approach here,with the story starts about a doctor(played by Kevin Costner)who believes his recently deceased wife may be trying to communicate with him is torpedoed by the oblivious efforts of director Tom Shadyac.
Dragonfly is the story of Joe Darrow, starring Kevin Costner, a young doctor in a hospital in Chicago, who loses his wife in a sudden and tragic accident.
There are fine performances by the supporting cast, Kathy Bates, Linda Hunt and Ron Rifkin, but the film is carried by a heartfelt, excellent and sincere acting job by Kevin Costner.
The movie made you think about life after death and about a loved one trying to contact you.