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After Life Director: Hirokazu Koreeda Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Letterbox Format: Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 118 minutes Studio: New Yorker Films Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-08-29 Buy from Amazon |
 "Not to be missed"This has become one of my favorite films. Just when you think the film is about to end, it goes in a surprising direction and touches you even more deeply. You leave this film with a renewed appreciation for life and those you love. It is absolutely beautiful and very moving. I can't praise this enough. See it.  "Memories of a past life"After life is an extremely strange film. First of all it is not your typical Japanese odd ball.It is actually very straight forward. Story and the location is very down to earth. Strange thing that the film is set in a parallel world or better a zone between earth and heaven&hell. People live and work there just like in earth.Even announcements are made regularly. In this parralel zone, people who lost their lives recently, come and pick a memory before exiting to the otherside.Of course everybody is strangely Japanese but it is a Japanese film is not it? This memory will be the only thing that they will remember about their past lives. There is a government office type place there whose employees (dead people just like visitors who still unsure about which memory to pick)try to help the visitors to pick a memory. When a memory is picked, these people help the visitors to re live the memory by re creating it with actors and other resources. These clerks has a band as well which performs at the farewell seremonies. So a very straight looking movie which shatter all these past visions of afterlife in other movies. Yes it is not the afterlife itself and director wisely protects films authenticity by not showing it. But this parallel world is without any phantasy locations or people. So director takes us in to the meaning and the message of the film without being irrevelent. Film's message is simply based on the memories and our failure to appreciate them. Visitors who want to decide which memory to pick is provided with video tapes of thie entire life. Some of them watch it and find how life was beautiful when they were unaware of it, how moments shared with precious ones were actually the best of times which were always unnoticed and forgotten quickly. People in that world are actually face with their faults and choices about life and even the attendants of the parallel world find themselves asking the same questions thus some find the best memories and leave their posts which are filled with visitors who are unable to pick a memory. Well acting is quite good and characters are well portrayed. This film is slow paced and emotional hence being boring to many(I still remember the cracking sound of chairs including mine) Not your typical Japanese weirdo indeed.It requires your patience. But it is an extremely interesting as well as an uniqe film to watch.It will make one to re think about life, memories and loved ones and sure will point to the good memories which are dismissed as too ordinary. If you want to watch an unusual (but not a weird) movie, line starts here. "It's not RASHOMON, but it is brilliant"In the midst of chaos, violence, shallowness as exemplified by so many movies, most especially those from Hollywood, AFTER LIFE is a welcome breath of fresh air, of beauty. It has the quality that so many Japanese films have. In my opinion, it doesn't rank at the top with RASHOMON, THE SEVENTH SEAL, WINGS OF DESIRE, but it does give a person a good feeling. The large number of characters did seem a bit overwhelming. I would've liked to have gotten to know some of them a bit better. Also, the limitations in filming the memories didn't ring true. After all, this is the after life and you would think that they would have access to phenomenal effects. Kinda downgrades my idea of what the hereafter would have at its disposal. But the bottom line is that this is a brilliant film, and a must for foreign movie fans...and one for those who aren't to take a look at. "haunting"it's rare that I want to watch a movie twice in one sitting. After I finished watching After-Life the first time, I immediately rewound it to watch it again. It captures so many poignant moments of life and the fragility as well as the strength that memories are made of. While there was a fair amount of talking in the film, I found that the main characters of Takashi and Shiori in particular expressed volumes through their silences and faces.  "Just not interesting"I don't know whether I just didn't "get it" or something but this film was downright boring to me. I had a hard time focusing my attention. I usually love artsy-type films as well as action etc. I mean, I loved "Swallowtail Butterfly", "Kikujiro", "Hanabi(Fireworks)" and "Boys Return" and I even understood the meaning in "Battle Royale" but this one just didn't cut it. I had no idea what all the praise was about. There are just too many slow parts. |
