Lush green
aerial photography of the
Venezuelan jungle stands in
stark contrast to the dark and
depressing urbanity of American
city life where Joe Darrow
(Kevin Costner) works as a
doctor in the emergency room of
Chicago Memorial Hospital. His
wife, Emily Darrow (Susanna
Thompson), was last seen in a
rainstorm in Venezuela, where
she was on a retreat with the
Red Cross offering humanitarian
aid. She vanished in a bus
accident. There were no
survivors and her body was never
found. That rich, green, exotic
land is left behind as Joe is
challenged to persevere through
sad, rainy days back home. Joe
promised Emily that if anything
ever happened to her, he would
visit her patients in the
oncology ward. Strangely, the
children seem to know him, and
they say they've seen Emily in
their near-death experiences.
When Joe begins to believe that
Emily is trying to contact him
from the other side, his
coworkers and his neighbor (a
staunch Kathy Bates with a
sterling buzz cut) warn him that
grief can be a heavy burden to
bear. Featuring a handful of
frightful moments, an unexpected
action sequence, and many
emotional dialogues, DRAGONFLY
is a pensive movie about coping
with death and questioning the
possibility of the afterlife.
Some of the best scenes of the
film involve the hilarious and
bizarre Linda Hunt, who plays
Sister Madeline, an intense
little nun with a bad rep who is
plagued by tabloid journalists. |