The Here After

The poster for Swedish born director Magnus von Horn’s debut shows a group of students posing for a class photo, with the face of one of them scratched out. Protagonist John (played by teen pop star Ulrik Munther) returns to his small town after several years away in an institution. The school headmistress nervously respects John’s decision to return but the other students are reluctant to speak to him. Even John’s father (Mats Blomgren) appears uneasy. It’s slowly revealed that John committed a crime as a child but people aren’t ready to forget; as the violent incidents escalate, the townsfolk begin to look more and more like a lynch mob.

There’s possibly only 30 minutes of dialogue in The Here After, and the aching silences add to the tension. Munther’s face is almost permanently blank. Is he medicated or simply choosing not to think about the consequences of his actions? He's good in the main role, though it’s Blomgren who provides the emotional centre; his carefully concealed heartbreak is quietly affecting.

If The Here After were remade by Hollywood, it would conclude with lessons and hugs. Director Von Horn offers no easy solutions: here the dead-eyed John merely goes off for a bike ride to who knows where.

Extras

A trailer and two short films. Echo is Von Horn’s first effort, and works as a companion piece to The Here After. A police psychologist escorts two Polish killers to the place where they murdered a girl. Later, Arek (Radomir Rospendek) agrees to meet the dead girl’s family in a restorative justice encounter. Echo ends with the killer emitting a self-pitying howl; a horrific image which lingers in the mind for days afterwards.