After Life

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theguywithawheel23 Jan 27 An hour and a half of ‘lightning in a bottle’ cinema magic. Doesn’t quite know how to begin or conclude it’s vast concept, but the moments it does capture are the type of ear-to-ear smile inducing bit of (untampered) sentiment you wish movies provided more. There isn’t a shred of pretentiousness here; not even some overly intelligent drawl to make sense of it all. This is merely pure hearted, wildly experimental cinema that’s so very easy to fall in love with. See more Kevin L @Lakeman Sep 11 This is special filmmaking. But then it's Kore-eda, a special filmmaker. In fact, he's a writer/director of a very high order. The subjects brought in to this waystation of sorts find that they are recently deceased. Now they must choose one memory, just one, to carry on w/ them in the 'afterlife'. As those who make their choice explain it to the counselors/staff, I was so engaged in the depth and details of these memories, knowing how memory is deeply personal and unique to each person in the way they relate to each of them. A huge revelation is experienced by a staff person involving one of the dead and a woman from both men's lives. This makes the staff person, who died young in way, have to reevaluate his live in relation to this staggering news. I did get a bit confused a time or two, and there's a couple of scenes I didn't see a point in including, but that may change w/ a rewatch. As for the overall impression of the film, I found the writing, incl. great dialogue, to be stellar. Pacing seemed appropriate, and the tone is spot on throughout. As critic Roger Ebert pointed out in his insightful review, there's a moment in Bergman's "Cries and Whispers" after the sister passes after a miserable illness, her diary is found, and a line is read recounting a brief respite from her suffering as she and her sisters join her in the garden. "I feel a great gratitude to my life, which gives me so much.” I feel such gratitude to Kore-eda, and other artists who create such exceptional works. 4 stars See more Matthew B 07/31/2023 As visions of the afterlife go, Hirokazu Koreeda's film is certainly one of the most low-key. There are no dazzling special effects, and his presentation of the next world is positively prosaic. The dead people presumably step into the bright dazzling light ahead of them, but we only see them as they emerge. The lights may even be ordinary bright electrical appliances intended to capture the attention of the recently deceased in order to tell them where to go. When they step into the light, the newly-dead people find themselves in a building that looks like an old school reconstituted to create living quarters. They are asked to wait in the lobby. The facilities in their new temporary home are basic. The rooms are shabby, but comfortable enough. Lighting is poor, and use of a hairdryer can overload the electrical circuits. Whoever is maintaining this part of the afterlife is not working on a generous budget. The new arrivals are greeted by administrative staff. They are not the chilly bureaucrats that we meet in Michael Powell's fantasy, A Matter of Life and Death. In fact they are friendly and helpful staff who wish to make the transition as agreeable as possible. What is the purpose of this afterlife facility? The recently deceased spend a week in this building. During this time they are asked to choose a memory from their life. This needs to be a special memory that gave them happiness. The staff then recreate this moment on film, and get the newly dead people to watch it. They will then disappear and spend the rest of eternity living in this moment. This is not an afterlife based on a system of rewards and punishments. There is no heaven and hell. Everyone receives the same treatment. If A Matter of Life and Death shows a heaven based on conformity, Koreeda's film shows an afterlife that is formed around an individual and personal vision. The dead do not progress to a future state but regress to a single moment in their past. To create a documentary-style verisimilitude, Koreeda employs hand-held cameras, and includes interviews with actual people, in which they are asked to choose a memory. These are mingled in with footage of actors, some of them improvising, and some of them sticking to a script. Koreeda interviewed 500 people in preparation for the film. What would it be like to have to choose one memory? Koreeda approaches the issue from all angles. What memories would people choose? Would they necessarily be happy or interesting? To us they might seem mundane, and yet they could be the most precious moment in that particular person's entire life. Think of the challenges facing the staff here as they are asked to recreate a memory chosen by a recently-deceased person. If the dead person wishes to boast of a sexual encounter, would you be obligated to film that? The dead people are much older than they were at the time of the memory. Sometimes they recollect a childhood experience, or even something that happened when they were a baby. How do you convincingly produce this, knowing that the memory has to seem right to the person who experienced that moment? What if the dead people find themselves stuck? Would you wish to relive your life? Or choose one memory, and lose all others? What If your whole life was mundane, with no special moments? Or you had an unhappy life, and reliving one moment would be hell? What if the dead person wishes to be obtuse and choose a dream, or a vision of the future? These are some of the problems that the helpers face when they work with the dead people. Indeed they are understanding of the dilemmas faced by their clients, because the staff in this institution comprises people who died but could not or would not choose a memory. Indeed we could see the film as a metaphor for the art of cinema, a method that allows a director to preserve for posterity something that was important in his own life. In making the film Koreeda was influenced by the experience of seeing his grandfather suffering from a neuro-degenerative disease. It is a reminder of the importance of memory. The moments that we recall as special are those that define who we consider ourselves to be. The sharper our memory of the past events, the happier we may feel. When a memory is lost, some of the goodness in our lives passes with it. However the art of cinema allows those memories to be maintained, regardless of what happens to the person making the film. The methods used by the afterlife staff are those of a film crew. They work with a script. They use cameras. They employ a director to arrange the scenarios. It is such tricks that film-makers use to create a memory of some part of their lives that seems real to them, and to us as we watch the film, even though we know the artifice that went into making it. For us, the fortunate viewers, the memory of watching After Life can be recreated again and again. That is comforting for me. I wrote a longer appreciation of After Life on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2022/06/11/after-life-1998/ See more Alvise F 05/22/2022 The calmness with which Kore-eda faces the theme of death, never letting himself go to discounted sentimentality, confirms his ability and sensitivity as an emerging author. In a kind of limbo, each soul must choose a memory, only one. The memory will be reinterpreted and staged by the examiners, finally it will be recorded on videotape and delivered to the examinee who can keep it for eternity. The whole is, however, a fictitious representation of the lived memory, thus underlining the metacinematic character of the narration. The cyclicality with which new souls arrive at the office every week highlights the fatalism, but never with a negative meaning. The souls are all placed equally to the scrutiny of the examiners, democratically: all have to accomplish the same transition and everyone is granted the same privilege, regardless of who they have been and what they have done during their lives. At times the film might seem long-winded, especially for the stillness with which Kore-eda decides to face the interviews, but everything is part of a slow contemplation of the delicacy and awareness of the transience of life (and death). The question remains, what is the one memory would you choose? See more 03/09/2020 Very moving. Koreeda hijacks your brain and forces self reflection. What memory would you choose? See more nefasto r @Nefasto 01/09/2019 If in my after life I'd have a week to choose the best Hirokazu Koreeda movie I'd be in trouble. I would probably get stuck in that place for a very long time. That being said, would I choose this one? "Wandafuru Raifu"? I watched all of them and I can safely say no, this film is not my first pick, but even so is a very good tale and another confirmation that Koreeda is among my top five favorites directors! Domo arigato. See more Read all reviews

After Life

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