| At least one major film each year of late has been devoted to the subject of death. In almost every case, the aim has been to soften the blow. Young adults are learning to respect the elderly as never before while the average age of Americans increases, but coping with death seems difficult for all. In Meet Joe Black, Billionaire Bill Parrish (played by Anthony Hopkins), on the eve of his 65th birthday, wakes up one morning in the realization that his death is near, but he is in denial. He helicopters from his Poughkeepsie estate (actually filmed in Rhode Island) to work in Manhattan past preparations for a gala celebration of his birthday. While en route, he tells his daughter Susan (played by Claire Forlani) that he is troubled by her lack of enthusiasm for her nerd fiancé Drew (played by Jake Weber); she should find someone with whom she can be passionate and vice versa, he says, or she will have missed the most important emotion in life. When she stops for breakfast at a coffeeshop, she meets a young, handsome attorney with whom she has a conversation that so impresses her that she is swept off her feet, but she has to go to work as a resident at a nearby hospital, and he has arrived from out of town to take up residence in an apartment. After they leave the coffeeshop, they turn around to look at each other, but each time the other’s back is turned. Finally, the man turns around, a truck runs into him, and he dies. While at work, Bill has chest pains, but they stop as he begins to converse with a voice that tries to tell him again that his death is near. That evening the family dines together, a rare event. Bill again hears a voice, asks a maid to admit a man at the door revealed by the voice, and Bill leaves the dinner table to go to the library to meet the visitor. The visitor in time identifies himself as Death (played by Brat Pitt). Death, who has taken the body of the young attorney, offers a deal to Bill: Provide some interesting diversion (a vacation of sorts), tell no one that he is Death, and Bill’s life can be extended. Bill accepts the deal, introduces him to his family as Joe Black at the dinner table, and Susan sees the same body as the attorney who dazzled her earlier in the day. Joe announces that he will be staying at the estate, astonishing the family. After dinner, Joe visits the kitchen and the pool. Susan is swimming, and the two converse. She soon realizes that he has changed but is still fascinated. The next day Bill Parrish begins to reflect on his life and legacy. At a meeting of the Board of Directors of Parrish Communications, Bill stuns the directors by saying that he has reversed a decision not to allow bottom-line-oriented Bonticue Corporation to buy out his business. He surprises his secretary by asking her to summon the family for another dinner together that night. Later, he remembers how his wife Joan used to make cold lamb sandwiches for him. Still wanting to think about his life, he asks Joe to take a tour of the city. Joe then visits the hospital where Susan works, fascinating her with his quiet, spiritual charm, especially when he communicates in Creole and tries to bring comfort to a Black woman (played by Lois Kelly-Miller) who recognizes that he is Death as she is admitted as a patient. That evening, while the family dines together again. Bill wants to give a farewell address but demurs. Joe then asks Susan about the status of the Creole woman, and thereafter Drew and Susan have words. Joe sees the altercation, comforts Susan, and they almost kiss. The next day, Joe encounters Susan at an indoor swimming pool, presumably at the offices of Parrish Communications, and Susan initiates sensual lovemaking; though Joe is less passionate, Susan does not mind. In the evening, Bill sees the two kiss, again at her instigation, and later in private with Joe erupts with anger over the dalliance. Bill then realizes that the only way to protect Susan from an inevitable disappointment is to agree to die. Joe accepts Bill’s decision, but only after his 65th birthday party. Joe, however, has fallen in love with Susan and wants to take her, too, so Bill tries to dissuade Joe from doing so, thus supplying the major tension of the film, which has a happy ending. The film’s tagline is “No one can die–while he loves!” Meet Joe Black, directed by Martin Brest, is a screen adaptation of the Alberto Casella’s 1920s play Death Takes a Holiday, which was made into a move in 1934. The film tries to say is that we all might die any day, at a time that we will not choose, so rather than passively existing in the meantime, we should carefully determine our priorities, rejecting materialism, and pursue what our heart really wants. Only then will we be truly happy and not fear death. MH |