Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" had the misfortune of having opened in local cinemas just before March 11, 2011. After the trauma of a real-life tsunami hitting Japan, few were in the mood to see a Hollywood special-effects version of the same.

It's been over two years since the events of 3/11, but I wonder whether it might still be too soon for people here to take "The Impossible."

I walked into a screening of this one — coincidentally, on the afternoon of March 11 this year — knowing nothing about it except that Naomi Watts was Oscar-nominated for her role, and that the director was Juan Antonio Bayona, who had made "The Orphanage," one of the creepiest films of the last decade. So when that wall of water rolled over the rooftops of the Thai resort engulfing Watts and every other character in the film, it was a shock from which it took a few days to recover. (No spoilers below, mind you, and I'd avoid the trailers: They give too much away.)