DEAD AGAIN
Rated R for violence and some language
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi, Andy Garcia and Robin Williams

CineSight Rating ***

A young woman (Thompson) with no name, no memory and no voice is left in the custody of L.A. private detective, Mike Church (Branagh). In the course of trying to discover her identity and locate her relatives, Church runs across Franklyn Madsen (Jacobi), a middle-aged antiques dealer, who does a little hypno-therapy on the side.

Madsen hypnotizes the woman, who they have nicknamed 'Grace'. They discover that she is being haunted by hallucinations of a romance which ended in murder - 50 years before. But are these merely visions, or does Grace have more secrets locked away in her subconscious?

DVD Features * Widescreen Format Only * 2 Audio Commentaries * Theatrical Trailer * Scene Selection * Languages: English, French * Subtitles: English

CineSight Comments & Trivia

DEAD AGAIN is a kind of modern Hitchcock - a deliciously dark tale of murder, confused identities and the possibility of the victim returning for revenge. The tight but complex script by Scott Frank (OUT OF SIGHT, GET SHORTY) is brought to life by Branagh and his usual ensemble of actors. Jacobi (GLADIATOR) shines as the curious Madsen, and comedian Robin Williams shows up in a surprising cameo as a sinister supermarket clerk. The downside is that Brits Branagh and Thompson struggle in maintaining American accents, but their Shakespearian overacting works well in the context of this somewhat tongue-in-cheek psychological murder mystery.

* Plenty of Shakespeare references: the number on Roman's prison uniform is 25101415 (25th October, 1415), the date of the Battle of Agincourt, featured in his previous movie, HENRY V; a cover photo on Life magazine of Laurence Olivier playing HAMLET; Mike and Doug fight on L.A.'s real Shakespeare Bridge.

* Branagh's birthday, December 10th, is shown on the first newspaper clipping in the opening montage.

* Several foreshadowings regarding identites: Mike spills tea on Grace and in a flashback Margaret spills a drink at dinner with Roman, who comments that she has "more beauty than grace"; Mike's apartment contains several pictures of pianos and pianists.