Dead Again
You'll want to watch again and again.

A woman, mute and in shock, shows up at a church run orphanage one dark and stormy night. The priest in charge calls on Mike Church, once a resident of the orphanage and now a private investigator, to escort the mysterious woman to the county mental hospital and maybe do a little digging to try and find out who she is. Being such a soft-hearted guy, Mike decides that he can't leave the woman he calls Grace there and takes her home with him. They slowly begin to form a sweet, romantic relationship when things take a turn for the worse.

Although a bit predictable, Dead Again is a great attempt at reproducing the feelings of those old noir thrillers from Hollywood's golden age. It even takes place in Los Angeles and boasts a cast that looks good in both color and black and white. Well, maybe not Andy Garcia in color. But that's just because of the makeup. Really.

The movie takes the old setup of a beautiful woman with no memory who ends up with an unknown killer after her and shakes it up a bit. Using hypnotism as an excuse to dress up the attractive cast in barely post-WWII costumes and reminisce on Hollywood's heyday, the current day mystery is tied in with a murder that occurred over 40 years previously.

Kenneth Branagh: Color and clean-shaven or black and white goatee'd, this movie's got it all!

What with reincarnation and karma factoring in, it's a pretty straight forward yarn until the final twist, which I'll admit I didn't see coming the first time around. But parallels abound in this movie with even a few minor characters making appearances in both the current day's story and the 1949 tale, blurring the lines between the two. Some however are so subtle that you don't catch on until the second viewing that clues have been presented to help you figure out this mystery. It's fun to watch it again and again, and look for the things you missed in the last viewing.

I think I've mentioned the cast a few times, but I'll do it again simply because so many of them deserve special note. Derek Jacobi as the antique dealer/hypnotist is a wonderful toad. In a movie where no one is who they seem, he stands out as perpetually suspicious, but for different reasons. Andy Garcia is both attractive and slimy (and then just plain icky) as the newspaper reporter who seems to have all the answers. (The man should never be allowed to wear clothing designed anytime after the early 50's.) Robin Williams is a joy as the disgraced Dr. Cozy Carlisle mostly because he hadn't yet perfected his "please-give-me-an-Oscar" maudlin performance. Of course Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are wonderful in their dual roles and have such a lovely, sweet chemistry. Their U.S. accents are even pretty decent.

DROOL FACTOR: Without the long locks and the workouts, the Irish-born Ken keeps himself out of this category. However even with a few day's growth of stubble the Cuban-born Andy Garcia is definitely worth a few hours of sighing.

GROSS-OUT FACTOR: Garcia's character in his old age smoking via the tracheotomy hole in his neck is one of the reasons that I will never pick up a cigarette.

STRONG CHICK FACTOR: Because of the plot twist this one is a hard call. However taking everything into consideration, Margaret Strauss turned out to be one tough chick.

-- Linda M. Najera

Dead Again is currently available on video.

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