October 27, 2010 10:00AM EDT

Best in Show: Bryce Dallas Howard

Bryce Dallas Howard brings a vivid flesh-and-blood presence to Clint Eastwood's death-haunted Hereafter.



Clint Eastwood turned 80 earlier this year, so who can fault him for having mortality on his mind? The universal mystery of the afterlife is the subject of Eastwood’s latest film, Hereafter, which follows three separate stories until they merge into one: a French reporter (Cecile de France) experiences near-death, an American medium (Matt Damon) who can speak to the dead doesn’t want to, and British twins (Frankie & George McLaren) are separated by tragedy.

So where does Bryce Dallas Howard fit into this?



This daughter of Hollywood (director Ron Howard is her father) has a supporting role in the American third. Before the movie begins, George (Damon) has renounced his gift, which he calls “a burden,” and has been trying to normalize his life. He’s signed up for a nighttime cooking class. Howard plays Melanie, who gets partnered with George. The chef instructor has a matchmaking twinkle in his eye when he introduces them; they’re the only people in the class that look like movie stars.

It isn’t long before Howard and Damon get curious about one another. Eastwood underlines their mutual attraction with luscious close-ups as they feed each other various spoonfuls of mystery food in a taste bud training exercise or when they return to George’s apartment to cook a meal together as a first date. Maybe it’s a simple matter of color and contrast—Howard’s sleek helmet of red hair is always paired with the bright whites of the kitchen or colorful produce in an otherwise grayish film—but there’s something about Melanie. She’s a vivid flesh-and-blood love interest in a movie that’s otherwise obsessed with the spectral type.



But Melanie is also impulsive and nervous. To her credit, Howard keys us in to Melanie’s moving target psychology before her climactic scene gives us more solid reasons for her flighty behavior. George, letting down his guard, tells her his secret and she cajoles him into giving her a reading, despite his misgivings. Bryce’s tremulous spooked reaction to getting exactly what she asked for is arguably the film’s most memorable moment.



Howard’s film career, which began with bit roles in her Dad’s films, seemed like it might explode after her memorable leading turn as a blind girl in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village… but her subsequent film choices haven’t gone well. She’s either been given little of interest to do in franchises that didn’t really need her (Spider-Man 3, Terminator Salvation, Eclipse), or impossible tasks to manage (try and save Lady in the Water, take over one of Nicole Kidman’s best roles in Manderlay.) Will things turn around for her? She has, of late, been moving towards her Dad's side of the camera—producing the January 2011 Gus Van Sant film Restless, selling a screenplay, The Originals, to Universal Pictures.

Hereafter’s three stories are told in a rather leisurely manner and though some of the lead characters feel underwritten, Melanie feels merely underused. Nobody is going to tell Eastwood how to make his movies but would it have been too much trouble to sketch out a fourth story, if only to give Howard more screen time?

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Click on the poster to find movie times near you for Hereafter.