MEET JOE BLACK

 

TWO STARS – Weak

 

 

        Though death comes to every person, most of us stubbornly refuse to accept this fact.  Busily filling our lives with transitory pleasures and accomplishments, we are nevertheless confronted with our own mortality when an accident or disease puts us into danger.  In those moments, our natural reaction is to ask: “Am I going to die?”  And, of course, the answer is: “Yes.”

        Perhaps not in that moment, it may be hours or days or even years away, but every human being will die.  Death comes to us all. 

        This inevitable coming of death is the premise of the film, “Meet Joe Black.”      

        Centering on the life of billionaire media magnate, William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins), late one night he hears a voice say “Yes.”  At first the voice is not identified as the voice of Death, nor is it explained that it is an answer to Parrish’s question,but the next morning when Parrish is doubled over in pain, Death explains that he is answering the question which has haunted Parrish throughout his life.  When in pain or danger, Parish asked himself, “Am I going to die?”  The answer is:“Yes.”

        But not just yet.  This time there is a twist.  Death, personified in the person of Joe Black (Brad Pitt), has become bored with his task of “coming for” people and has decided to satisfy his curiosity about life by taking the body of a young man.   With melodramatic flare, Death encounters Parrish in the library of his mansion.   There they reach an agreement that prolongs Parrish’s life and satisfies Death’s desires, but the ominous nature of their bargain prepares us for the struggle which is to come.

        Though Death has been personified many times before, in such figures as the Death Angel or the Grim Reaper, this personification is weak and unsatisfying.   Based on the 1934 fantasy by Fredric March, “Death Takes a Holiday,”  Joe Black is presented here as being naive and uninformed.  Comically presented, this ancient agent of death lacks the dignity such a personification requires.  The comedy is, therefore, neither funny or believable when Death is fascinated with peanut butter or inappropriate in the corporate boardroom. 

        But the strongest aspect of the film is in the person of William Parrish.  A man of principle and intelligence who created a media empire because he wanted to present the news to people without bias or undue concern for profit, Parrish must struggle with his own mortality and integrity when Death gives him a prolonged life.

        This question of how we would change our lives if we knew we only had days to live is intriguing.  For Parrish, there are two areas in his life which changed:  his family and his legacy.

        Although his focus on his family could have been presented as a cliche, the excellent conversations Parrish has with his two daughters are both believable and painfully real.  Having agreed not to reveal the identity of Joe Black or that he is about to die, Parrish nevertheless makes peace with both of his daughters.

        In a healing scene in which Parrish is speaking to his older daughter, Allison (Marcia Gay Harden), she lovingly confronts him on the fact that she knows she is not his favorite.  But with a gracious acceptance which allows years of insecurity to be healed, she looks her father in the eyes and informs him that it’s ok that she’s not his favorite for she knows he loves her and, though she’s not his favorite, she wants him to know that he is hers.  As Parrish and Allison embrace, he affirms her and fills the emptiness of her heart with his acceptance and love, signified by his finally accepting the party that she throws for him on his 65th birthday.

        The second focus of his preparation for death is seen in a change in his business plans.  Having developed a courageous and profitable media company, Parrish had been prepared to merge with another company.  But when he meets the man with whom he is to partner, he realizes that all the man wants is money.  He doesn’t care about the deeper purposes Parrish began his company to accomplish.

        In a moving address before his board of directors, Parrish explains that he does not want to lose his life’s work by merging with someone who doesn’t share his values and purposes.   Though Parrish is betrayed by his trusted first executive, Drew (Jake Weber), the change in motivation is clearly caused by his awareness of his own impending death.

        Another weakness in the film is the amorous relationship Death develops with Parrish’s younger daughter, Susan (Claire Forlani).  The relationship and sexual encounter of these two is superficial and cheapens the message of the film.

        “Meet Joe Black” is a fascinating premise which only weakly delivers its theme.  What could have been a fascinating exploration of how a person and a family struggle with death is only a melodramatic parody giving us little help in preparing for that final event in all of our lives.

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