Synopsis
A haunting and powerful psychological thriller. Set in icy upstate New York in the winter of 2002, "After" is about the Valentinos, a middle class clan facing financial hardship--their family stone cutting business is slowly failing--and coping with the usual rivalries and resentments that affect all but their absent daughter, Samantha, who has recently escaped Rochester for a new life in lower Manhattan. At their center is matriarch Nora (Quinlan), whose cheerful exterior masks an emotional fragility of which the entire family is painfully aware and fiercely protective. But, their delicate balance is threatened by a carefully concealed secret that, once revealed, will change their lives forever.
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Cast
- Kathleen QuinlanNora Valentino
- John DomanMitch Valentino
- Pablo SchreiberChristian Valentino
- Sabrina GennarinoMaxine Valentino
- Adam ScarimboloNicky Valentino
- Diane NealKat
- Darrin HensonAndy
- Bruno GunnElliott
- Mandy GonzálezMolly Valentino
- Joseph FerrantePeter Kilborn
Recommendations
- 50
RogerEbert.com
A handsomely mounted, largely watchable, and I suppose reasonably well-intentioned family drama with things to say about grief and loss and deception. It is also kind of irritating in is purposeful disingenuousness and determined challenges to plausibility. Your mileage may vary, as they say. - 40
The New York Times
After turns out to be working territory that, while emotionally fraught, has already been pretty thoroughly mined. - 40
The Hollywood Reporter
Though clumsily enacted, the eventual revelation at least avoids the sick-punchline feel afflicting some dramas sharing this theme. - 40
Village Voice
The final revelation of the big secret that haunts the family -- hinted at throughout the movie -- is more than a little maudlin, and the dedication feels like nothing so much as ass covering. Until then, After is a frequently absorbing miserablist family drama shot in appropriately chilly winter tones. - 38
New York Post
There’s a secret at play in After, which director Pieter Gaspersz communicates via many side-long glances. I won’t give it away, but it’s a fairly far-fetched twist that feels out of place in this realism-based drama. - 20
Los Angeles Times
After catalogs so many clichés in the dysfunctional family at its center that the film could be taught in a screenwriting class as a lesson in what not to do. - 12
Slant Magazine
Throughout After, the filmmakers crank the trials of the film's Valentino family up to 11, sans irony or subversion. - 10
The Dissolve
After is essentially The Room of 9/11 movies, a position that was really best left unfilled. Its heart might be in the right place, but that gulf between pain and understanding has never been clearer, and might now be even wider than it was before.