Before and After
Liam Neeson and Meryl Streep play a couple going through a parents' nightmare: Their son (Edward Furlong) is accused of murdering a local girl. What's worse, he's gone into hiding, seeming to lend credence to the charges. Neeson, as a passionate, intuitive artist, tries to take matters into his own hands; when he finds what appear to be blood-stained clothes in the kid's car, he cleans the whole thing up and winds up destroying evidence, making matters increasingly worse. Before and After is a solid if stolid drama, with a strong, controlled performance by Streep as the worried wife and mother, while Neeson comes off as overwrought playing the controlling father. Given the subject matter and the presence of director Barbet Schroeder, this movie should be a lot more interesting than it is. --Marshall Fine
