Director: David Freyne
Cast: Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, John Early, Olga Merediz, Da’Vine Joy Randolph
Screenplay: Pat Cunnone, David Freyne
114 mins. Rated PG-13 for sexual content and some strong language.

The logic that Eternity presents certainly has me viewing film endings like Titanic in a whole new way.

When Larry (Miles Teller, Whiplash) unexpectedly dies at a family gathering, he awakens at a train depot in the afterlife. There, he’s informed that he must select an eternity to spend his forever. When his wife Joan (Elizabeth Olsen, Avengers: Infinity War) passes away and arrives at the depot, he’s already made plans for their eternity, but he is quickly surprised to discover that Joan’s first husband, Luke (Callum Turner, Emma), who died in the war, has been waiting decades for her as well. Now, Joan has to make a decision, one that will affect the eternities of all three.

The first feeling I had when Eternity began was very much that this is a live-action Pixar film for adults. The depot location is a magical one based very much in classical aesthetic, but this feels like a fully realized fantasy world and also a place I could imagine ending up in when my life ends. The screenplay properly defines the limitations and rules of this world and then lets the various chess pieces loose in it.

Eternity works because its central performances from the three leads: Teller, Olsen, and Turner. All three are likable, endearing, and every time the narrative felt like it was heading in a specific direction, it broke my heart knowing that somehow, someway, someone is losing. This is all in addition to the existential dread of selecting one entire eternity and not being able to change your mind. I mean, c’mon, Studio 54 World sounds fun now, but give it 300 years and I’d be getting kind of bored and in need of a change. Choosing an afterlife and a person to spend it with when you have two loving humans who both assumed they’d be the pick is shattering.

The three leads are the heart, but once again, Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) is the secret weapon of Eternity. She’s got humor, sass, and grace as Anna, one of the case workers of the train depot. I loved her in The Holdovers, and her interactions with Miles Teller are just so fun and heartfelt. This is her job, she doesn’t like all of it, but she does care about her clients, and that’s seen in those smaller moments.

I also appreciate that Eternity doesn’t just take the easy way out. There are hard conversations and deep introspection in the narrative that allows us to hurt with the characters as their preconceived notions are challenged and downright eliminated. I won’t go into spoiler territory, but I think there’s a realistic climax inside this living adult Pixar film that feels right even as it feels wrong.

Gosh, I just really enjoyed Eternity. It’s a fun and heartfelt movie that doesn’t make slight of actual ethical questions, and it’s challenging all the way through, though I never felt like that took anything away from the occasionally joyful and silly experience. I would, however, like to know about the pet situation, because I need to know where my fur babies are headed so I can meet them. Beyond all that, Eternity comes highly recommended.

4/5
-Kyle A. Goethe