No one can die - while he loves!

The world is full of silence – It often surrounds us. Conversations are so peppered with silence it is a wonder that anyone communicates anything at all. Conversations between tentative new lovers are probably the worst – nobody seems to know exactly what to say. Often these silences speak more than the words uttered between them. Equally often, they don’t. We fill these silences where our low megahertz brains churn around for something to say with the odd “Ummm” and “Errr” to make it look as though we are engaging in intelligent thought, when in fact those thoughts usually marry exactly with the words we speak.

Luckily for the filmgoer, directors have the good sense to realise that silences are best left in the real world and use justified artistic license to fill them with witty and delightful banter, exciting debate (or if we are lucky - staggeringly expensive and totally irrelevant stunts). For reasons that escape me, ‘Meet Joe Black’ is full of these silences. It’s a long movie, coming in at just over three hours. Whilst I have nothing against long movies per se I do expect them to be full of something. Something exciting, something moving, something stimulating, something of course, that isn’t nothing. ‘Meet Joe Black’ has rather a lot of nothing. Every conversation in the movie seems to have a bit of it: great long silences as the performers stare at each other. I kept expecting a production assistant to pop into the frame and shout a prompt.

The saving grace for the film is that as well as all the silence it also has Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt and a reasonably engaging story.

Hopkins plays William Parish, a universally loved and incredibly successful businessman. He receives a visit from Death (personified in the unlikely form of Pitt) who has come to take him away to ‘another place’. However, Death has become fascinated with life and decides he wants a tour of what it has to offer and why so many people are taken with it. He chooses Parish to be his guide. In return for showing him around Death agrees to grant him a few extra days and a chance to say goodbye. Alas, all does not go to plan as Death finds himself falling in love with Parish’s daughter (it is no surprise that she falls for him – remember this is Brad Pitt). With Death so taken with ‘earthly’ desires and not concentrating on his day job, presumably nobody can die. Whilst this may seem like a good idea initially it does mean that there would be enormous problems with overcrowding and sooner or later, no matter how hard the idea is to accept, the world would be bound to run out of ice-cream. Luckily for the sake of the future of humanity everything seems to be resolved happily in the end.

Hopkins goes in the same drawer in my personal Screen Gods filing cabinet as Sean Connery. The man is a genius and holds me captivated with almost everything he does. His performance in ‘Meet Joe Black’ is no exception. He has a presence that commands your attention and in the couple of moments when his temper frays and he shouts, I found myself flinching. He is eminently believable as an incredibly wealthy and successful man who seems to have no enemies. I am hard pressed to think of anyone in real life who fits this bill. Incredibly successful people often have to step on a few heads on the way up. It is further tribute to Hopkins that we can believe he is something that may well not exist at all.

Brad Pitt plays Joe Black, the name he and Parish choose so that he will blend in with normal human society. (Introducing him as ‘Death’ would be a bit of a conversation stopper). Of course the odds of Pitt blending in with normal society are rather long. For some reason he appears to be damned gorgeous to women. One of my female colleagues has a plant that takes pride of place in her living room that was grown from a cutting taken from a cutting of a plant once owned by Brad Pitt. This is a rather nice house and a very skanky plant but yet it still takes centre stage. Welcome to the Pitt Effect.

I am at a loss to explain this particular phenomenon but suffice to say that every night I fall to my knees at the foot of my bed and pray that if there is to be any justice in the world (for normal, ordinary men) one day Pitt will turn out to be gay.

Joe Black is quite a character and really rather expects the whole world to revolve around him. He has picked well in choosing Parish to be his guide to the real world as any normal person would be likely to lose their temper with his attitude and give him a good slapping. Pitt’s performance is really quite entertaining and I even found myself feeling sorry for Joe as he begins to fall in love with a girl who he would soon have to leave behind.

Overall the story does not seek to answer too many philosophical questions. I think its unlikely that Death could fit into a family environment so readily, if not exactly seamlessly. Much like ‘City of Angels’ there is a deliberate decision not to use special effects to prove Joe Black is supernatural. Not once do we see any visible indication of special powers, bar an uncanny perception of exactly who is standing behind him. Just like in ‘Angels’ this works extremely well and allows you to concentrate on the developing relationships rather than developing technologies.

Heading up the supporting cast is Claire Forlani as Susan Parish, William’s daughter and Joe’s love interest. The ease and emotion with which she falls for Joe neatly balances his obvious inexperience. Jake Webber is suitably conniving as young executive Drew and Marcia Gay Harden plays a convincingly pathetic Allison (Parish’s other daughter). Jeffrey Tambour is perfectly cast as her husband Quince, who whilst not always keeping up with the pace of the world around him, will always try to do what’s right in the end.

To my surprise the movie held my attention to the end and I didn’t fall asleep. Meet Joe Black is a good bet for a rainy Sunday afternoon when you have nothing better to do than study the fine art of the poignant silence.

DVD features include Interactive Menus, Theatrical Trailer, Talent Bios, Production Notes, Web Links, Spotlight on Location Film Highlights, presented in Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic), with Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.