MovieChat Forums > After.Life (2009) Discussion > The kid Jack + his 'mother'

The kid Jack + his 'mother'

posted 13 years ago by Xeokym
10 replies | jump to latest

One thing I didn't understand was, why was Jack's mother so old?! Why was she just sitting there watching a TV show in B+W that looked like it was from the 50s when it was present day? Was she supposed to be dead?

And, dead or not, who the hell was taking care of Jack, then? Did he basically just take care of himself? He kept saying he was waiting for her to pick him up or take him to school, but he got there & home just fine, it seems. In fact he showed up at the funeral home quite often too, so he got around. Jack's entire situation just made no sense at all.

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I can't understand your crazy moon language.

[–] Mrpinkeye 13 years ago

i agree it was weird but is that to show that he's creepy like eliot? he does ask about death the first time we see him with the birds...

i didnt get the first shower scene, why the nosebleed?!

[–] infrasomnia 12 years ago

and also, why was jack/s picture in eliot's pic collection?!?! is jack dead/killed by elliot or is jack eliot when he was a kid (eliot had ancient phones and camera as well and also said he first spoke to his dead mother and jacks mother seemed pretty dead too although too old)? there is a connection between the two of them that i just cant understand but it seemed a bit unnecessary/jacks character, unless theres a point to it.

[–] HenryCW 12 years ago

That boy whose picture appeared in Eliot's collection was not Jack but another boy.

[–] infrasomnia 12 years ago

maybe, it sure resembled jack way too much but still jack\s character makes little sense, and the overall situation involving him.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] smidget28 (805) 7 years ago

The boy in the picture has dark curly hair. Just watched. Jack's alive. Serial accomplice.

[–] brattinela 12 years ago

well, if jack was dead or if he was eliot as a kid, then who did paul slapped at school?

hey! you shut your big mouth when you're talking to me!

[–] bluemagicmist 12 years ago

I think she went grey prematurely because her face wasn't that wrinkled. She is like a zombie stuck in front of the t.v and neglecting her son, why it's b and w? I have no idea. I suppose Eliot is right about some people being dead while they're living but of course he's a psycho, so he thinks he's found a solution. lol

[–] smidget28 (805) 7 years ago

To make him accept Eliot's ideas. His mother is a "walking dead" person who wastes away in front of the tv, or she could really be dead and he killed her (just joking).

[–] wight1984 11 years ago

Seems like it was a red herring.

The film set it up so that Jack might have the same gift as the funeral director. His mother had died sometime ago (perhaps with the body not being discovered yet) but he could still see her. He could sense that the flowers were dead, perhaps that the chick was about to and when the boyfriend was about to.

Alternatively, there was plenty of set-up for Anna being alive ending, which seems to be what we got (with the breath on the mirror, the drug mentioned by the police officer and that she could seemingly interact with objects).

I don't think that this is a conventional 'twist' film because both possibilities were obvious to begin with so neither would have been a surprise... but I wasn't sure which direction it would go in.

It's left a little bit ambiguous anyway but the director has apparently confirmed that she's alive.