AFTERGLOW

"It seems highly probable that director Alan Rudolph and producer Robert Altman one night in pre-production (over a solid burgundy) came up with the line that is the subtitle to this film: ‘a comedy of tears’. Such is life. While the structure and conflict of the two couples in the story is obvious – and hauntingly echoes some aspects of the unforgettable Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf – it is HOW Rudolph and his cast deliver this poignant four hander that counts. And they DO deliver. (As did they all in Mike Nichols’ film.) Only the final shot in Afterglow (which I won’t disclose) could be criticised for overt sentimentality and is quite superfluous. The rest of this marvellous film is emotionally gripping, intellectually satisfying and profoundly moving. That’s old fashioned, I know, but we are never more engaged than when we are witnessing the agony and the ecstasy of individuals coping with the kinds of problems with which we are all personally familiar: interpersonal relationships in all their glory and all their pain. The script never insults our intelligence, the actors are never found to be merely acting and the cinematic language is always more than a cynical device. For example, a sparsely used 360 degree camera swivel prompts our subconscious; Mark Isham’s splendid music likewise; the selection of cuts between scenes is exquisite. The whole film is a genuine pleasure – welded in place with pain."
Andrew L. Urban

"Alan Rudolph is one of America's most idiosyncratic and individual film makers, a protégé of Altman (who produces his films) and a director who doesn't believe in pap endings. Afterglow is a far more satisfying film than his dull Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle, and while full of obvious imperfections, the film is still a fascinating, sardonically amusing but deeply sad look at human behaviour through the eyes of four lonely and tragic human beings. The film is not as quirky or as visually stylised as much of Rudolph's early work, possibly because as a writer he has learnt about the art of self-discipline and has thus crafted a quartet of intricate characters in this poignant journey of past secrets, betrayal, parenthood and loss. Perhaps the film's major problem lies in the obvious diversity of its casting two pairs of actors representing two very different styles of screen acting. Neither Jonny Lee Miller nor Lara Flynn Boyle have the experience or psychological make-up to convey the genuine honesty of these characters. Their emotional outbursts have an obvious ring to them, they're unsubtle and hollow. On the other hand, Nick Nolte and Julie Christie, through their own life's experiences, present us with the purest and most honest of performances, and on screen together, they're magic, and that's what film stardom is all about. But Afterglow belongs to Christie. In a year of comebacks, hers is the most illuminating comeback of them all. Still hauntingly beautiful, the camera focuses not only on the exterior, but on a genuine sense of pain, anger, and even wry humour that the actress brings to the role and the screen. She's simply extraordinary, and the purity of her performance is well deserving of an Oscar. In an industry where movie stardom is fleeting and rather innocuous, along comes Julie Christie to shine on the screen once again. For her alone, Afterglow is worth a visit."
Paul Fischer