In 1949, composer Roman Strauss is executed for the murder of his wife. In 1990s Los Angeles, a detective comes across a mute amnesiac woman who is somehow linked to the Strauss murder.
By far, my favourite film of Branagh's that he's directed. A solid mystery/thriller--the kind that's not done enough these days IMHO. Though he's certainly diversified his oeuvre recently, what with Disney remakes and even superhero films, I wish he had done a lot more like this one, rather than, high-quality as they are, a metric tonne of yet-more Shakespearean adaptations.
Kenneth Branagh's first film, HENRY V, was a critical triumph. But since it was a Shakespeare story, it is overlooked as high-brow. With DEAD AGAIN as his sophomore directorial effort, Branagh has a film for the popcorn crowd. If HENRY V was tonally like a Laurence Olivier film, DEAD AGAIN is tonally like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Filmed in 2 eras, in both color and black and white, with characters portraying multiple characters, a private eye, reincarnation, a fortune teller even a femme fatale suffering from amnesia! Obviously DEAD AGAIN is a suspense thriller of old.
The screenplay by Scott Frank - screenwriter of OUT OF SIGHT, GET SHORTY and MINORITY REPORT- is taut and exciting. Branagh's c...