DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 6, 2024

 

#OnThisDay in 1990 Flatliners breathes a spark of life into the box office. Joel Schumacher brings his patented neon maximalism to this tale of five angst-filled med students who stop and restart their hearts in an effort to see what, if anything, lies beyond the moment of death. However, their excitement over what they discover quickly turns to fear when they realize something may have come back from the other side with them. It's oddly religious subtext and better than Brat Pack casting adds some needed substance to Schumacher's excessive style.

TIL: Schumacher was born to a Baptist and a Swedish Jew, and lived his life in a decidedly unreligious fashion. So, it's interesting that his movie's chief conceit that otherwise good people may still have a few sins to atone for before they can move on is so closely aligned with the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, that state of being where a soul judged by God to be worthy enough to enter Heaven is first purified of any remaining consequences of sin leftover from their life.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: More penciled ponderings on my daily Scripture readings.