After the Game

This was written and directed by Brewster McWilliams in 1997. You will note that this is his one and only credit. A review was written in 2000, four years before this was finally released directly to video. It's obvious who wrote that review and it saddens me. He meant well with this one attempt. And as I said it was finally released on video under the title The Last Hand in 2004. Apparently one person in 2006 saw it and gave it a kind review. It's now available on Netflix and I rented it because they list it as film noir.

It's not a bad film. It shows thoughtfulness in writing and direction. I had no trouble watching it all the way through in spite of flaws.

Good points in it: The director had Frank Gorshin and Lou Rawls in the cast, and it was good to see these two. The characters were of interest including the bartender.

Difficulties started with the murder sequence and the bizarre disguise of the murderer. Then came the long presentation of two principle characters as prime suspects. That of course leads the viewer to look elsewhere for the murderer.

The climactic scene could have had more emotion than it did.

However, all in all, this is an okay film which indicated that the director/writer had ideas. Unfortunately, it looks like he has disappeared. That's tragic.

"After The Game" is a film that was influenced by the Coen brothers':"Blood Simple", Wim Wenders':"Wings Of Desire", and Shakespeare's: "Hamlet". It deals on the surface with greed, murder, deceit, lust, and revenge while on a subtler level it explores the spiritual world of Karma, and the afterlife. The world as we know it is only an illusion, much like a movie. I hope "After The Game" provokes thoughts that both tantalize and enlighten. --

Cool little movie with an interesting bag of familiar actors--three of them dead now--i.e., Frank Gorshin (seriously underrated "Riddle-me-this, Batman!"); silky singer Lou Rawls (briefly plays a morgue attendant in this film); and character actor Stanley DeSantis (you know, the indie producer on "Entourage" and himself on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," to name just a few). TV buffs will recognize Hudson Leick (aka screaming psycho Warrior Queen on "Xena") and always-working-actor Sam Anderson (most recently, good little Bernard on "Lost" and big evil lawyer on "Angel"). The plot is twisted and turns in ways you don't expect. Some sex and some violence, but not quite over the top. Richard Lineback as the tarot-card-reading bartender is a hoot. This pic has moods and characters of a Lynch film without getting covered in gore. So don't fret about getting your face rubbed in the icky stuff under the rock (not that we don't love Lynch). At just under 90 minutes, "The Last Hand" entertains with sex, violence, and murder, then offers a finale with a subtle spiritual kind of message, albeit, some viewers might not "get" the ending. I liked it because it was different, weird, and it worked.

'After The Game' is a little bit confusing and a little bit too complicated for it's own good. But after watching it literally three times I can honestly say that I think it is a very intelligent attempt at great film-making. It suffers mostly from a screenplay that is too thick. But the writer/director, Brewster MacWilliams, obviously has a lot of potential to become a great filmmaker. The theme of after the game of poker lining up perfectly with after the "game" of life is very interesting. The concept that our Karma or actions in this life carry through to the next is also thought provoking, and then the idea that Clyde's father shadows his son's life from an afterlife is also very interesting. The idea that we all follow our parents footsteps and tend to make the same mistakes is also enlightening. I, personally, would love to see what Brewster could do with a bigger budget and big time editor!