Love, Time and Death, are a commonality that all of mankind share no matter the differences of their living worlds. But most of us go through life without realising the thread that binds us all, often while even seeing it tether someone else to annihilation. That’s Will Smith, who having experienced a personal loss is trying to outgrow the past, leaving behind a wake of destruction. Written by Allan Loeb, Collateral Beauty has moments of brilliance in its script and acting, not nearly justifying its purpose and scope quite like it could have. Here’s a film review by Anita, in the regular column, in Different Truths.

Cast: Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Edward Norton, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris.

Director: David Frankel

Screenplay: Allan Loeb

Production companies: New Line Cinema, Anonymous Content, more

Producers: Bard Dorros, Michael Sugar, Allan Loeb, Anthony Bregman and Kevin Scott Frakes

Music: Theodore Shapiro

Cinematography: Maryse Alberti

Editor: Andrew Marcus

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

“…tomorrow is not promised” but there’s a harmony in today. See it, feel it, revel in it, it does not make a pain felt any lesser, because it does not replace anything, it just co-exists, stays on, supplementing life. It is Collateral Beauty.

Love, Time and Death, are a commonality that all of mankind share no matter the differences of their living worlds. But most of us go through life without realising the thread that binds us all, often while even seeing it tether someone else to annihilation.

That’s Will Smith, who having experienced a personal loss is trying to outgrow the past, leaving behind a wake of destruction. But not wishing to go down with him are Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, and Michael Peña, trying to hold onto what they’ve all built together, even going against their grain, in a bid to secure their future while desperately amending the present.

Yet life unfurls its own designs as the three actors they take on to impersonate as Will’s three demons, Love (Keira Knightley), Time (Jacob Latimore) and Death (Helen Mirren), inadvertently have them face their own monsters.

Written by Allan Loeb, Collateral Beauty has moments of brilliance in its script and acting, not nearly justifying its purpose and scope quite like it could have.

David Frankel of The Devil Wears Prada, Marley and Me, Hope Springs and The Big Year, directs this tear jerker with the most unusual casting of Will Smith in a grief-stricken role, believing he’ll carry it off. He does! As does Helen Mirren, in her complex layered act as she infuses life into her role of Death in an attempt to make one understand, and be appreciative of it, while fulfilling her need to being appreciated as an actor.

Watch it only if you are not emotionally fragile at that time!

©Anita Parikh

Photo from the internet.

Anita Parikh

Born and wedded, into a confluence of different cultures, Anita has lived in both, a traditional state and a cosmopolitan city. She has seen an assortment of unfavorable rustic practices, as much as philanthropic efforts. Her latest novel is set in this backdrop. She is a software developer and loves to dabble in digital Art. She is married to an architect. Anita is a film buff and has a good sense of humour.

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