In the late 80's, Kenneth Branagh made a name for himself with an excellent adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V. Critical acclaim aplenty, and what would obviously be a ready-made career in adapting Shakespeare for the screen, so what does he choose for his next directorial project?
A psychological, twisty murder mystery spanning 5 decades, of course.
I jest, but Dead Again is quite the solid little picture. Branagh has a knack for working with people--this much is certain. He gets performances out of people, including Robin Williams in a dramatic turn with what might some glints of his award-winning performance in Good Will Hunting.While the performances are good, there's one device he uses that I think is particularly clever, and after research, I find out was a late addition to the process.
As I mentioned, there are periods of the film that take place decades in the past. These scenes are played by the same actors (in different roles) as the modern day portions. So how to easily denote between the two? By using black and white for the past. The use of the device makes it a little more clear to keep track of what's going on, timeline-wise, and adds a nice visual touch. I did some reading on the ole Wiki', it turns out that was an effect that was added later, after some test screenings. Turns out that the test process isn't always used for dumbing down movies.
There's a big twist--I'm not going to spoil it here, even though the movie is approaching it's 20th anniversary. I suggest you check it out, so that we can talk about it.
