Dragonfly (La sombra de la libélula)

Many may think they know the ending, but they will be suprised. This is a beautiful film with much more depth and understanding than initially appears. If you think it is going to be an average hollywood ghost story, think again.

Dragonfly is directed by Tom Shadyac who also co-writes the screenplay with Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson. It stars Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates, Ron Rifkin, Joe Morton and Linda Hunt. Music is scored by John Debney and cinematography by Dean Semler. Plot finds Costner as a grieving doctor who starts to believe he is being contacted by his late wife through patients near death experiences.

"She was my ultimate partner, my best friend and lover. And I miss her beyond belief. I also know I'm never gonna see her again, not ever. And I'm just beginning to understand what that means so intensely that I sometimes wish I didn't have to wake up anymore. And the last thing I need is someone telling me what to feel, or how to feel."

It was badly marketed as a supernatural horror during the publicity prior to its theatrical release, and even now certain DVD covers lend the unsuspecting to thinking it's a nerve jangling experience. That it failed to resonate with critics and many film fans is not surprising, they either didn't get the spook fest they expected, or they simply had no time for a picture high on sentiment. And, without doubt, there are those who simply dislike Costner to the point that even when his peers were lauding him, they were throwing the poisonous darts. Does this mean they are all wrong and Dragonfly is a great picture? No, not at all, it has problems for sure, but really it could only ever appeal to one corner of the film loving market.

Dragonfly is a meditation on grief, where structured as it is, it opens the possibility of something past death offering advice and hope. This of course brings in much sentimentality as the makers hit the viewer with a sledgehammer, reference gravely ill children, young suicides and Costner's grieving. But what's wrong with sentimentality anyway? True, they go too far in the final quarter here where an underwater sequence is as trite as it gets, but some folk want to be manipulated into a teary eyed state, or they want to believe as Fox Mulder does. It's also worth mentioning that this isn't loaded as statement to say "there is" something after death, that the white light thing waits for us all, because it is disputed during a dinner conversation that puts up a valid argument against the near death experience.

Always interesting in themes and played deftly by Costner (who always does great brooding and inner turmoil) and Bates, this is a film worthy of inspection by seekers of the heart tug. Suffice to say, the horror faithful and those that hate the treacle treatment should stay away. 7/10

*Spoiler-ish (but not really)* Despite some moments of dubious acting from both Kevin Costner (a very short haired??) Kathy Bates, and a completely over the top scene where Costner jumps over a waterfall and drowns (?) in the same bus that his wife did about a year earlier which allows him to see her ghost and get the answers he's seeking. Yes, despite all that I still liked this movie.

It's a unique story and was scarier then I was expecting, delving into ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Ultimately I guess its a love story too, as Dr. Joe Darrow, is plagued by what he believes are messages from his wife after she dies while on a red cross mission in Venezuela. Joe begins to wonder if her spirit is trying to contact him and then goes about trying to communicate with her.

The ending is a big surprise but it did leave me wondering exactly how "they" were going to get out of South America without any paperwork? 08.13

Setting aside several brilliant, but slashing technophile reviews, the experience of the story is more important than the mechanics, or the fact that several trendy notions have been graphed together. I don't care that it is New Age, Old Age, Stone Age... whatever. I don't even care that Costner doesn't seem to know where anything is going. I don't care if the director knew either. This is a story about the spirit of the only person absent from the film. The thing that drives the fictional Emily in the fictional tale is more compelling than anything else. What mother would not defy death to see this plot to conclusion? The broader message is most uplifting, the very powerful, spiritual, magical force that is love. It isn't too difficult to mine this treasure from the mud. Overall, I found the story very interesting and it survives the mediocrity of dialog and implausibility of the doctor's behavior at the hospital. The movie is even better on the second viewing. Sue me, but I really liked it.

If you check your cynicism at the door, "Dragonfly" is astonishing in its tenderness. It's beautifully shot (Dean Semler of "Dances with Wolves" and "Waterworld") and well-acted. It's a refreshing alternative to the testosterone-driven films like "John Q", "Collateral Damage" and myriad war movies like "We Were Soldiers". Kevin Costner is inexplicably Hollywood's whipping boy but he still manages to make varied, provocative choices in his projects. While I wanted to resist the heart-tug of the ending, I found I simply couldn't. If you let it, "Dragonfly" will take you someplace sweet.