Hiernamaals

What if we could live our life again? After her mother has an accident and dies, young Sam is left to care for her father and two young brothers. Barely 16, she, too, suffers a fatal accident and finds herself under the care of Martin, a scruffy angel (called a “civil servant”) who presents her with a choice: go to the hereafter and join her mother or reincarnate elsewhere. Sam chooses the hereafter, but her mother is not pleased. Sam is too young. She should live. Plus, there is a forbidden “option” - Sam can live her entire life again. She decides to do so, determined this time to make everything better and save her mom. Sam tries hard to remember her first life but the details fade. Now she again faces life itself, full of imperfect people and hard choices. Afterlife is a magical and touching film about grief and loss that tempers the fantasy with bittersweet and sometimes gritty reality. A thoughtful and engaging film, it challenges us to appreciate the life we have. (Cleveland International Film Festival)