Dead Again (1991)

Just a year after he received his first two Oscar nominations for both starring in and directing Henry V, Oscar-winner writer/director Kenneth Branagh (Belfast, Thor, Murder on the Orient Express) directed and starred in this dazzling modern reinvention of the sort of suspense thrillers which Alfred Hitchcock had specialized in several decades prior.  The story focuses on a mysterious woman (Oscar-winner Emma Thompson) who has lost her memory, the private detective (Branagh) who has been tasked with helping her find out her memory, and.....how this mystery connects to the tragic passings in the 1940's of Roman and Margaret Strauss (Branagh, Thompson), a composer and musician who fell in love.  What results is passion and danger for all involved!  Also co-starring Andy Garcia, Derek Jacobi, Wayne Knight, and Robin Williams, this twisty and time-bending tale of love and loss remains an almost forgotten gem from thirty-five years ago.

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

DEAD AGAIN - 1991

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Starring Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi, Andy Garcia, Wayne Knight, Richard Easton, Jo Anderson, Hanna Schygulla, Campbell Scott, Christine Ebersole, Vasek Simek, Lois Hall, and Robin Williams

Genre: Neo-Noir Thriller

This was definitely a film which I would not have been aware of if I wasn't working at a movie theater when it came out during the dog days of summer. And I'm glad I was able to catch JUST enough of it on one of my breaks (after spending most recent ones rewatching the SAME sequences from T2 over and over)...enough to drag one of my friends to watch the whole thing a few days later. 

To even attempt to try to describe the overall plot here just doesn't do it justice because I'm honestly not sure how much it actually holds together when you try to dissect it. 😆 It involves amnesia, reincarnation, hypnosis, jealousy, murder, nostalgia for post-WWII Los Angeles, and most importantly scissors....LOTS of scissors! But thanks to a sharp and genuinely witty screenplay by the brilliant Oscar-nominated writer Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Malice, Logan) and very assured, stylish direction from eventual Oscar-winner Branaugh (Belfast, Henry V, Thor), it all just goes down SO smoothly and everything eventually locks into place in the third act in the most satisfying way possible. 

Branaugh and Thompson play star-crossed (seemingly doomed?) lovers in both the '40's and the '90's, creating four distinct characters even as they're each written in pretty broad strokes. The cutting back-and-forth between these two possibly parallel storylines (helped by B&W used for the '40's sequences) is in fact SO organically done that it wasn't actually until this most recent rewatch that I actually noticed that there were a few other actors BESIDES KB & EM playing dual roles in both time periods. Most notably Jo Anderson who plays a starlet in the '40's and a nun in the '90's. 🤗

Beyond her though, the supporting cast is just about pitch-perfect as everyone definitely knows the movie they're in and is having a blast stealing their scenes....from Wayne Knight (just as he was starting his run on Seinfeld) as the boisterous photographer/researcher sidekick to Branaugh's modern day PI, he even gives a touching monologues early on...to floppy-haired Andy Garcia as the roguish reporter in the '40's who has eyes for Thompson's Margaret when he's not rolling his own cigarettes....to a charming Derek Jacobi as the antiques-obsessed hypnotist in modern day LA....to the late, great Robin Williams (!) In a nice acid turn as a disgrace former psychologist now dispensing valuable insight about karma while stocking groceries. 😉

And sprinkled throughout are just SO many playful moments which you can just easily imagine that a '90's Hitchcock would have also run with including a pseudo-gross bit involving tracheal smoking, several sinister angles shot of a certain character at a masquerade party, AND the whole bat-shit nature of the final climax involving a plethora of....I won't dare spoil it. 🤫 Plus masterful camerawork from DP Matthew Leonetti (Strange Days, Commando, Poltergeist) making great use of several retro-styled LA locations and a balls-out Hermann-like score from Patrick Doyle (Carlito's Way, Sense and Sensibility, Thor) which just WON'T quit...nope, none of this is done with subtlety but it's all such fun!

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):

Now about that score which comes to us from Oscar-nominated Scottish composer Patrick Doyle…..at points, it feels like a direct homage to Hermann’s more bombastic scores for Alfred Hitchcock including Vertigo and previous episode North By Northwest.  Whenever it kicks in, we just hear an explosion of strings and French horns on full blast…..and never moreso than this film’s audacious opening credits sequence.  This sequence is basically a series of newspaper headlines and images setting up the tragic story of Roman and Margaret Strauss with this music playing over it.  It DEFINITELY sets the tone for the rest of the film with just one word in big letters filling the screen in newsprint just as the score kicks in….and that word is “MURDER!!!”  This track is elegantly titled, “The Headlines.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

So HOW much did I love this film and seeing these two together after first seeing it?  Enough to become positively obsessed with everything either Branaugh or Thompson would do for the next couple of years....and enough to be royally pissed off of at Kenneth (we were on a first name basis back then 🤪) after seeing what a mockery he would make of the Frankenstein legend on-screen with his completely miscast new girlfriend just a few years later. 😠 Yeah I’m not going to get into it TOO much but in the early ‘90’s, Emma and Kenneth had the makings of being one of THE great movie star pairings…..they were great together in several films directed by Branagh, not only this but also the Oscar-nominated Henry V, the underrated Peter’s Friends which was basically a British (and BETTER) version of The Big Chill, and of course their DELIGHTFUL pairing in Much Ado About Nothing. (Audio clip) 

And THEN…..Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein which I’m not ashamed to admit was definitely one of my most anticipated films of ’94.  Here was Branagh directing AND playing the titular character Dr. Victor Frankenstein against Bobby DeNiro playing the monster….and produced by Coppola as a follow-up to what he had pulled off a couple of years prior with previous episode Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  To refer to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a DISASTER was not an exaggeration: it tanked at the box office, the reviews were god-awful, AND…..apparently on-set Branagh strayed from then-wife Thompson by carrying on an affair with Helena Bonham Carter who played Dr. Frankenstein’s cousin/lover.  The over-written romance between these two in the movie not only kind of derails the movie but the following year, Emma Thompson divorced Branagh.  And I’ll say this about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: it’s a genuinely WATCHABLE disaster….but it took several years for Branagh’s career to recover even as the now Oscar-winning Thompson went on to be one of the more celebrated actresses of the ‘90’s.  (Audio clip) 

Watching them together in this is just a reminder of what could have been for years to come if only Kenneth didn’t screw it up…..but hey, they had a good run together and at the very least, they have STILL managed to put out a variety of strong content separately since then. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

With twisty thrillers like this, one of the highlights ALWAYS has to be the KEY reveal late in the movie which sets the final act and/or the climax into motion…..it often revolves around our main protagonist FINALLY catching up with an oft-mentioned side character who’s not only giving him or her the information they need but is TRULY making a meal out of it.  And the writer of this film Scott Frank would actually deliver ANOTHER delightful version of this just a couple of years later with previous episode Malice….helped by a juicy cameo by Anne Bancroft. (Audio clip)

Well in the case of Dead Again, this scene occurs around 80 minutes into the film when Branagh’s Mike Church finally gets to meet with Andy Garcia’s Gray Baker who’s now apparently in the late stages of lung cancer in a rest home CAKED with sorta unconvincing old age make-up – guess it depends on the angle - unable to speak though his mouth as he’s now using a tracheotomy, AND……craving a cigarette.  Which Mike of course has on his person as for the whole film up until this point, he has been in denial about trying to quit smoking.  Now honestly ON PAPER this scene just shouldn’t work…..especially the gross-out gag which it centers around, Gray puffing away through that tracheotomy resulting in a VERY on-the-nose but still perfectly delivered response from Branagh as we see the utter disgust on his character’s face. (Audio clip) 

It’s SUCH a crazy image that the revel of ONE key character’s identity afterwards almost feels like an afterthought….but it’s a FUN reveal nonetheless.  Not only are Branagh and Garcia such a kick to watch in this scene but it sets into motion this film’s TRULY bat-shit climax. (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

I still ADORE this film decades later as it might not only be THE best modern stab (pun intended) at a Hitchcockian thriller (yes including DePalma's though I still believe he was a better director overall than KB) but it also remains a testament to just how amazing of a pair Emma and Kenneth were on-screen together. No matter what facial hair and/or awkward attempts at American accents they're trying (which they pull off for the most part) here, the chemistry here between them is electric, so much that they EACH pull this off with dual roles too.  As far as I’m concerned, this remains THE best film Branagh has ever directed….though to be fair, I am probably long overdue for a rewatch of his Henry V which I DO remember being quite the barnburner.  But at the end of the day, all of the Hitchcockian flourishes simply would not have landed NEARLY  as well without having the perfect pair of actors delivering the trickiest performances….for that reason, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are your CO-MVP’s. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4.9 stars out of 5

Happy 35th Anniversary to not only one of THE best thrillers of the ‘90’s but just an all-time rewatchable favorite of mine. 

Streaming on MGM+ & hoopla

And that ends another KARMIC CREDIT PLAN review!