Why? Because Meet Joe Black isn't really about a high-powered businessman or a whirlwind romance. It is a surprisingly tender, achingly slow meditation on what it means to say goodbye.
Meet Joe Black is a film about dying that makes you feel gloriously, painfully alive. Conoce a Joe Black
But Death is curious. Having heard Bill speak so passionately about the beauty of life, love, and the taste of a simple peanut butter sandwich, Death makes a deal: a temporary reprieve in exchange for a tour of the mortal world. Death inhabits the body of a young man (Brad Pitt) killed in a car accident and introduces himself as “Joe Black.” Meet Joe Black is a film about dying
At nearly three hours, the film moves like a slow tide. But the final 20 minutes are arguably the most perfect coda in 90s cinema. Bill’s birthday party becomes a wake. He dances with Susan one last time, knowing she cannot hear his goodbye. He walks off into the fireworks with Death, dignified and unafraid. Death inhabits the body of a young man
Don’t watch it for the plot. Watch it for the feeling. And have the peanut butter ready.
Brad Pitt gives one of the strangest performances of his career. As Joe Black, he is not playing a man; he is playing an entity trying on humanity like an itchy wool suit. He walks stiffly, tilts his head like a confused bird, and speaks with a deliberate, halting cadence. He discovers the joy of peanut butter with the wide-eyed wonder of a newborn.