Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi, Robin Williams, Andy Garcia, Hanna Schygulla, Wayne Knight
Dead Again begins in the black-and-white photographed past in which famed composer Roman Strauss (Branagh) is about to be executed for the murder of his wife Margaret (Thompson). His ominous last words are, "This whole thing is far from over," In the present day Los Angeles, private detective Mike Church (Branagh) is handed a case involving an amnesiac woman named Grace (Thompson) and seeks to discover her true identity. When it appears Church has reached a dead end, along comes antique shop owner Franklin Madson (Jacobi), who uses hypnosis to reveal Grace's past life in which she was married to, you guessed it, Roman Strauss.
It is here where Dead Again becomes a mystery in two eras. Did Roman indeed murder his wife in their Gothic mansion all those years ago? How do the events of the past connect to the present? Mike Church surely isn't as taken with grand romantic gestures as Roman was, ("I'm not looking for Miss Right. I'm looking for Miss Right Now,"), but there is no doubt he will fall for Grace and try to protect her from imminent danger which springs forth from a past life.
The entire movie is a suspenseful nod to Hitchcock and maybe even Agatha Christie, all made with high style and suspense with a supporting cast of characters with secrets of their own that only serve to muddy the waters or bring clarity to the proceedings, depending on you wish to look at it. Thanks to Branagh's direction and the bold screenplay, Dead Again sweeps us through a love story which lasted through the decades and the pall of death which haunts the present as well as the past.
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