How would you react if you knew that in a few short days, your healthy and perfectly happy existence is about to end?
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If you were given the knowledge that your final moments embracing the gift of life were approaching and you had the opportunity to say goodbye to your loved ones and finish your final moments on your own terms, would you take it? The finality of death is the greatest sadness faced by humanity. At any given moment, we may cease to exist. At any moment, we will no longer have the opportunity to embrace those of us that are most important. Those whom we love will no longer have the opportunity to say a friendly hello or offer a warm hug. When death comes calling, our life is over. We may not see it coming. Even if we do, the moment that our last vision of existence flashes before our eyes passes, we no longer exist as anything more than a corpse. It is a morbid and sad reality, but when our time is up, there is nothing more we can do and any final goodbyes or hopeful tasks cannot be done.
How would you react if you knew that in a few short days, your healthy and perfectly happy existence is about to end? Would you find long lost loves and tell them how much they mean to you? Would you seek out all remaining family members and divvy out all personal belongings and tell each and every one of them that you loved them and want to thank them for being an intricate part of your life? Would you use these final days to wrap up unfinished business and create a situation where those left behind will be provided for and their remaining years of life are happy and fruitful? Are you the kind of person that would forget about responsibility and take part in great adventures and do many of the things that you had always wanted to do? Would you sit back and watch your favorite film one last time and listen to your favorite album just once more? Are you the kind of person that would become greatly saddened and mourn until your passing?
These are questions faced and situations that need to be considered for William Parish (Anthony Hopkins) in Martin Brest´s modern adaptation of the 1934 film "Death Takes a Holiday." In the picture, Parish is visited by the Grim Reaper and told that he will soon succumb to a heart attack. However, Death (Brad Pitt) has found a body of a man killed in an accident and decides to spend some time among humanity and prolong the inevitable for Parish and walk among men for a vacation. Parish´s lovely daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) had previously met the young man who is being possessed by Death during a chance encounter at a coffee shop. The two find a bond and a strong attraction, but they walk away from each other and in all probability would have expected to have never again had the opportunity to meet. Death´s vacation with Parish alters more than his fate, but that of his daughter.
Bill Parish is a successful business man and he is approaching his sixty fifth birthday. His older daughter Allison (Marcia Gay Harden) is planning a massive celebration for the wealthy millionaire and Bill is slowly grooming Susan´s fiancé Drew (Jake Weber) into taking over some of the company´s operations. His friend and brother-in-law Quince (Jeffrey Tambor) is a faithful friend that has long stood by Bill´s side. All of them are soon to be affected by Death´s visit as he takes the name Joe Black and refuses to leave Bill´s side; whether it be a board meeting or an important decision for the birthday bash. Drew quickly begins to dislike Joe when he begins to believe that Bill has chosen Joe as a successor and it becomes quite apparent that Susan and Joe begin to have strong personal feelings towards each other.
Death learns valuable lessons about humanity during his vacation. He learns about love and comes to find strong feelings towards the lovely Susan, who adores him. He learns about trust and honesty and sees how Bill Parish is a well-loved man who has lived a great life and touched a great many lives. Death also learns to enjoy the taste of peanut butter. As he begins to understand the gift of life and partake in many of the activities of mankind, Death prolongs his vacation until the end of Bill´s birthday party. He threatens to take Susan with him when his vacation ends and he causes Bill professional difficulties as Drew becomes distrustful of Joe and attempts to persuade the board into believing Bill is no longer capable of running the company.
"Meet Joe Black" is a film that has been strongly criticized since its release in 1998. The film has a decidedly slow pacing and the slow moving story is only amplified by its 181 minute running time. The film has also been criticized for the manner in which Brad Pitt portrays Death. In "Meet Joe Black," Death is given many childlike qualities during the earlier part of the film. He has no knowledge of peanut butter and has difficulty in engaging in certain conversations. Yet, he is fully capable of making love to Susan and concocting a plot about an IRS agent to save Bill´s company from being merged and broken up by a competing conglomerate. The film has been called dull and it has been called poorly written. Regardless of the strong criticism against the film by most critics, I have always found some admiration in "Meet Joe Black." I don´t consider it a great film. I´d hardly call it good. However, I don´t mind calling it perfectly passable entertainment; albeit a bit long.
Brad Pitt portrays the naïve, yet sinister Death with conviction. His early moments before death violently came calling at the twenty-two minute mark with an incredibly entertaining encounter with a taxi cab were vintage Pitt. His first scenes with Claire Forlani were exactly the kind of moments that made the actor a heartthrob. Although I have never taken to the peanut butter scene, I enjoy the demeanor in which Pitt portrays Death. It is unique and understated, as if Death was truly experiencing life for the first time and taking in all that surrounded him. Anthony Hopkins is a great actor and he is very good as Bill Parish. The role affords Hopkins a number of scenes where he can convey the humanity and reflection of a man who has lived a great life, but must come to terms that it is nearly over. His final moments with his daughter Susan are both touching and effective. The dance scene is enough redemption for much of the pacing and the film´s entire study of the human condition during the acceptance of death pays off when Susan realizes her father is saying goodbye.
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[release]20854[/release]