Tribeca 2025 Review: AFTER THIS DEATH, Wonderfully Bizarre Thriller Explores Desire, Complex Nature of Creative Process

Mia Maestro, Lee Pace, Rupert Friend, Gwendoline Christie, and Philip Ettinger star in Lucio Castro's mystery-thriller.

Contributing Writer
Tribeca 2025 Review: AFTER THIS DEATH, Wonderfully Bizarre Thriller Explores Desire, Complex Nature of Creative Process

Isabel (Mía Maestro) is a voice actor from Argentina, working and living in the US.

An avid lover of hiking, Isabel, who is pregnant and seems to be in an open marriage with Rupert Friend’s Ted, visits some caves near her home, where she meets an enigmatic man named Elliott (Lee Pace). While nothing initially happens beyond some low-key flirting, this man later materializes again in Isabel’s life when she follows her friend (Gwendoline Christie) to a club concert, and Elliott turns out to be the band’s leading singer. The two get involved in a complicated relationship, which Isabel struggles to define – just as she struggles with the weirdly exuberant fan following Elliott is experiencing.

The best way to approach After This Death, a film by the Argentine director Lucio Castro, is probably not knowing a whole lot about what’s happening in it beyond the initial premise. Not because some intricate twists await the audience along the way, but because this second feature from the author of End of the Century (2019) is a bizarre, elusive experience, a journey, if you will, which is meant to be taken like a walk in the woods – without prejudice or expectations.

The film, which first premiered at Berlinale earlier this year and was just presented at Tribeca, ventures between genres –  it is not quite an honest thriller but not a straight-faced drama either – winking at the viewers and teasing something Lynchian or Hitchcockian (the latter is even mentioned by name). After This Death is one of those features that purposefully seem to pose lots of questions and present mysteries that aren’t meant to be fully exposed in the end. The absence of proper answers is in no way disappointing, though, since this is not what the authors set out to give, and the glimpses of genre conventions are merely a facade here. 

The inherent oddity of our reality and the ways we tend to spend our time in it are at the forefront of Castro’s attention. This motive is fully embodied in the duet of the two main characters, who become strangely connected through something that certain people would see as a coincidence, while some (like Elliott’s fans) would view it as a predestination.

Mía Maestro, who was featured in Castro’s previous film and is known to genre fans thanks to her role as Nora Martinez in The Strain series, remains wonderfully understated throughout the film. Lee Pace tends to appear sporadically, but when he does, he mumbles something glorious, like informing Isabel that he is “a great pussy eater”.

At the Tribeca Festival premiere, After This Death was introduced as "a very horny film", which is true in all the best ways. But the desire that is simmering underneath its stylized visuals, created by Barton Cortright’s camera, isn’t simply about sex and intimacy, despite a few sensual scenes. The real hunger here is for self-identity and self-expression.

Some people, like Rupert Friend’s character, seem to be content with not digging deep within themselves (and sometimes impersonating Liam Neeson from Taken). Some, like Pace’s Elliott, spend decades (and ten music albums) trying to do just that. And some, like the movie’s heroine, Isabel, may not suspect something is just waiting to burst out of them – but, much like nature, one’s true self always finds a way.

The film enjoys its North American premiere at Tribeca Festival 2025. Visit its official page for more information.

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Gwendoline ChristieLee PaceLucio CastroMia MaestroPhilip EttingerRupert FriendTribeca FestivalTribeca Film

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