After This Death Review
After This Death (2025) Film Review from the 24th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Lucio Castro and starring Mia Maestro, Lee Pace, Rupert Friend, Philip Ettinger, Gwendolyn Christie, Jack Haven, Timeca M. Seretti, Marita de Lara, Jordan Carlos, Stephanie Jean Lane, Laurent Rejto, Yi Liu and Ollie Robinson.
Filmmaker Lucio Castro’s hugely intriguing thriller, After This Death, is a mysterious glimpse inside the life of a woman named Isabel. This movie can remind one of the suspense movie Unfaithful which starred Diane Lane, but fear not, After This Death goes bizarre places no other film has gone before, and may make that Lane movie look a bit tame in comparison. Castro creates a nightmarish world in the new picture that feels like a dream in the latter half, especially. It’s a wild and vivid dream which doesn’t explain everything happening in it, but you’ll try to put the pieces of the puzzle together thanks to Maestro’s excellent leading performance.
Isabel is a voice-over recording artist who is convinced by her friend, Alice (Gwendolyn Christie), to go to a loud music event showcasing the talents of Elliot (Lee Pace), a strange but appealing musician, who pours on the charm and who Isabel soon comes to know more than she has any right to. Elliot helps provide Isabel with stimulation through sexual oral pleasure even though she’s married to a businessman named Ted (the always reliable Rupert Friend). Did I mention that Isabel is also pregnant? Soon, the movie delves deep into the world of the bizarre as Isabel starts to suck on Elliot’s feet after she removes his socks. It’s clear that Elliot and Alice have some sort of connection, but what will it signify when Elliot disappears from the equation and her life spirals out of control?
As the plot progresses, Isabel must confront her situation with her husband when the dust clears. This film eventually sets Isabel on her own after tragedy strikes and she does laundry at one point as weird things seem to be occurring around her. Detergent plays a key role in a strange scenario at one point. This is that type of movie where anything goes in the name of “strange.”
It’s not best to tell audiences every detail of After This Death, but I’ve said a lot already about the movie’s creepy vibes that should give one a clear indicator that this is not a typical thriller. Isabel sucking Elliot’s feet automatically gives it some notoriety as something completely unique where the characters are free to do as they please and aren’t pigeonholed into the mechanics of a lame plot or traditional characterizations.
That being said, it is sometimes hard to follow what is going on. Characters haunt Isabel. One truck from hell shows up in front of her home and flashes its lights on Isabel, but we never really get to find out who was in the truck making it a bit disappointing. Elliot has crazed fans, and there are many different outcomes the movie could have, yet Lucio Castro ultimately leaves viewers to draw their own conclusions by the end regarding the events that transpire here. It’s clear all the creepiness is Isabel’s road to salvation, but the movie never really lets us piece together the mystery of it all to form a coherent whole. Instead, the scenes are fragmented and ambiguous despite the fact that they are a bit suspenseful to behold.
Isabel will find her path in life as the movie reaches its conclusion, but at what cost? Maestro plays this role to perfection. She digs deep inside her character’s mind to make us understand her sometimes poorly thought out choices. Pace is perfectly cast as the tall and handsome stranger who is much more than meets the eye. Maestro and Pace have chemistry together, but the weirdness of it all makes the chemistry a bit less effective than it should have been. If Elliot comes across as a weirdo in the end, wait till you see the people who he associates with.
After This Death will not bore the viewer, but it doesn’t offer a straightforward plot and if it does in spurts, it is ultimately undermined by its own need to be “way out there.” Maestro’s Isabel develops as a character which is a positive attribute of the picture, but there are so many questions the film will leave with the viewer that it feels, curiously, somewhat incomplete.
There’s no denying Lucio Castro’s talent as a filmmaker. This movie sets an eerie mood and atmosphere that complements the picture’s story line. However, if not for Maestro’s dedicated and top notch performance, the movie would have been a total miss. It’s a close call, but Maestro ultimately picks up the pieces of the broken plot details to keep the audience watching this crazy and intense thriller which should have more appeal if you watch it late at night.
Rating: 6.5/10
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