Waking the Dead

An eerie, intellectual, romantic tragedy about an idealistic young politician (Billy Crudup) haunted by memories of his activist lover (Jennifer Connelly) killed in a car-bombing, Waking the Dead touches a raw nerve with its remarkably visceral emotional intensity. Masterfully sliding between two time periods, director Keith Gordon (Mother Night) tells the couple's powerful, cerebral and spiritual love story, set in 1972, while also tracking Crudup's decent into madness 10 years later as visions of Connelly beset him during a congressional campaign. Completely natural in their roles, the previously underrated stars both give deeply moving performances in this compelling, devastatingly romantic, psychologically enigmatic film. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)