Probably the worst movie that I have ever seen. No sense of depth or fullness. Can't believe that this movie could be made. Shocked by Nick Nolte's hair---it was never combed once throughout the entire movie. The movie was very hard to sit through---I just didn't feel any sense of connection to the characters at all. I am trying to understand why some people seemed to enjoy it so much. To post on this board, you have to write ten lines about a movie. I am at a total loss on how to do that when the movie itself was so empty. This is a movie that you will not want to waste any amount of time on. Take my advice, do not watch this movie, even if it is the only one that you have access to watch.

elements of it really are cringe worthy, the name lucky Mann and the smarmy way Nick Nolte talks to his ladies above all. johnny lee miller is so hot, so hot/cold, so interesting I'd never seen him in anything before he looks kind of like an actor from the 40s only with real skin and that turns out to be remarkably hot. as Julie Christie says he is "young and beautiful". Julie Christie really is "a revelation" although in a couple of her scenes the choices do seem a bit extreme or the direction but she deserved a nomination or something. I mean the last shot of her is really well cringe worthy but when you think about actually it it makes sense. she feels nick and Lara are making the nursery together with the idea of having this baby together. she thinks this girl has given him what she did not, having duped him instead, so her despair makes sense. still ... the shot is like oh wow what is this in its wailing pouring ashes upon ones' head it seems to come out of nowhere and it lasts forever and it's pretty unpleasant viewing no two ways about it. in answer to the question what is johnny's problem with Lara well it does appear that he's into older women. what's puzzling is the problem he has with Julie Christie when she humiliates this guy he really hates and turns to him like let's do it and he's like no that was a turn off, you were too slutty with him, we are supposed to imagine he has concluded, basically. say what? she was hardly being slutty, her seductiveness was mocking when she says "perhaps another time", emasculating. she even takes the man's phallic symbol champagne bottle from him in case you didn't get it. I felt really cheated that Julie Christie didn't' get laid but I guess the idea is she was already impregnated years before and nick is now making' a baby of his own that she doesn't get to share and thus the rip in their union is healed. as for Lara and johnny, well, they get to be Young and beautiful and perhaps when Lara is older and johnny is a geezer he will want her more! in answer to the question what is this film about what the heck was it all of Alan Rudolph's movies pretty much are about the one and only about "once I'm married my wives own me" as mickey says in choose me "it's other people who pull you apart" he goes to extreme lengths to prove this rather like Stanley Kubrick going overboard to defend freedom of thought in a clockwork orange. anyway this one is a good one not disappointing because it's funny and kinda sweet and kinda sexy and it has that amazing Alan Rudolph style, the slow camera movements through which various objects pass on different paths, these gavotte like "spires of martinville" like polyphonic spacial relationships are explored so seductively. it was a tad too long. and yeah the sets were awesome. the score was really nice too with some particularly gorgeous haunting moments when that female solo voice reiterates the one note... also the girl who has the nonspeaking role of the daughter of nick and Julie is just gorgeous. Good Alan Rudolph movie. not like "mrs parker" which was one of the disappointing ones or "trixie" which was nauseating. . .

I like Alan Rudolph movies. I always thought of him as Robert Altman Lite. When I saw "Welcome to L.A." in 1902 (I am exaggerating, but barely), I loved it and it seemed very Altman-like, and even starred some of the Altman-ettes like Geraldine Chaplin and Sissy Spacek. Most of the people were unhappy and if I'm not mistaken, Chaplin spends the whole movie in taxi cabs, taking pictures of the corners of buildings. When I saw "Choose Me" years later, it had a breezy, jazzy feel to it that I loved. It was about people in love, unlucky in love, wanting more love, wanting love from someone else, etc. "Afterglow" is a little like both of these movies. It has its jazz soundtrack intact and the people are miserable. In a nutshell, Julie and Nick haven't had a decent moment together since before they can remember. Lara and Johnny Lee are much younger but also accumulating many bad moments. Secrets are revealed. Both couples switch mates. They are not that much happier. Both find out about the other. That's it. Nolte and Julie Christie have some good scenes together, but she has much more chemistry with Johnny Lee Miller, who gives the best performance in the movie by a mile. He nails his role as a yuppie/scumbag perfectly. The whole thing is way too long. There are unnecessary scenes galore. If it were not for Julie Christie, I would have lasted 20 minutes w/this one. 5/10.

By toning down the performances and getting tight close-ups, Alan Rudolph was able to capture the subtle interactions between people. A well-written script painted portraits of people trying to cope with their lives even when they are not what the characters thought they would be. Just sit back and savor this little dish of a movie.