Are some people destined to be alone? This movie suggests that is the case. John May, a simple name for a man with a simple, even stark, life exists almost in a vacuum. His job is to track down the family members of people who die alone, and he does this with care and compassion. He even keeps a photo album - with no names or labels - of all of the people whose cases he has worked on. Most of the time, nobody else cares about the deceased person, and John is the only attendee at their funerals.
In his methodical, meticulous way, he brings dignity and compassion to people who had nobody else to care about them.
John learns that his job is being cut, and he pours everything he has into his last case. Being freed from his job seems to bring a spark of life or freedom to John himself, and his world expands just the smallest bit. He meets Kelly, the daughter of his last case, and he smiles for the first time in the film.
However, just as we begin to feel that this lonely, quiet, but profoundly caring man is about to experience some small measure of the kind of happiness most people take for granted, we are jolted out of that hope. John dies suddenly, alone.
By this time, movie-viewers are likely to be in tears over John's fate, as he is so beautifully and poignantly portrayed that we cannot help but root for him. On some level though, we know that he could have had no other fate. John is the representative of the isolated and lonely, and must die alone as they did.
The very last scene of the movie says so much, despite its simplicity. Kelly, attending her father's funeral, glances around, wondering where John is. Then she shrugs it off and carries on with her life with the other people around her. That's how easily it happens. That's how individual people become so isolated and join the ranks of the invisible and unloved.
The ghosts of the people John buried over the years - the faces in his album - surround his grave. They tell us that John's life, as brief and stark as it was, was not lived in vain. What he did was important, as he provided dignity and care that all human beings need. It was a bittersweet moment, but saved the film from being overly dark.
If you judge movies on how much they entertain you on a superficial level, you likely won't enjoy this one. But if you appreciate wonderful acting, a thought-provoking concept, and a moving portrayal of the human condition, you must see it.
In his methodical, meticulous way, he brings dignity and compassion to people who had nobody else to care about them.
John learns that his job is being cut, and he pours everything he has into his last case. Being freed from his job seems to bring a spark of life or freedom to John himself, and his world expands just the smallest bit. He meets Kelly, the daughter of his last case, and he smiles for the first time in the film.
However, just as we begin to feel that this lonely, quiet, but profoundly caring man is about to experience some small measure of the kind of happiness most people take for granted, we are jolted out of that hope. John dies suddenly, alone.
By this time, movie-viewers are likely to be in tears over John's fate, as he is so beautifully and poignantly portrayed that we cannot help but root for him. On some level though, we know that he could have had no other fate. John is the representative of the isolated and lonely, and must die alone as they did.
The very last scene of the movie says so much, despite its simplicity. Kelly, attending her father's funeral, glances around, wondering where John is. Then she shrugs it off and carries on with her life with the other people around her. That's how easily it happens. That's how individual people become so isolated and join the ranks of the invisible and unloved.
The ghosts of the people John buried over the years - the faces in his album - surround his grave. They tell us that John's life, as brief and stark as it was, was not lived in vain. What he did was important, as he provided dignity and care that all human beings need. It was a bittersweet moment, but saved the film from being overly dark.
If you judge movies on how much they entertain you on a superficial level, you likely won't enjoy this one. But if you appreciate wonderful acting, a thought-provoking concept, and a moving portrayal of the human condition, you must see it.