View Larger Image |
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 |
 "omoshiroi yo"it:s quite strange that most japanese haven:t heard of this movie. though i rarely can stand to watch a movie more than once, i:ve seen this a few times; pretty amazing i think, though it:s best not to know anything about it before you see it. it:s the people in it that make it so good, and important. there is so much compassion and real feeling here, without sentimentality--none of the emotion is not earned. well i could go on but you get the point. questions were raised in a previous review about technology formats and the creation of a believable (!) halfway world. i suppose my answer to that would be to say that kore-eda had a formidable task in creating a world with fantastic rules that is flesh-and-blood concrete for the viewer. this is why, i think, he set it in a typical japanese school, with very typical maintenance people, school songs adn ceremonies, etc. hence videotape. yeah there:s a suspension of reality here but if you can make the jump the world is more real than the real world of most movies. try it anyway. "must see/ must share"Part of the beauty of this film is that it is Japanese. Part of the beauty of this film is that it is not religious. It is about life. It is about memories. It is about people. If you can watch one movie that brings all of us together as one people, it is this. Regardless of your ethnic origins, we share the same emotions, the same feelings, the same thoughts, dreams, wishes, hurts and fears. Having lived in Japan for the better part of 11 years, part of the fun of watching the movie was listening to the Japanese while reading the subtitles. Our reactions to other people are the same, regardless of what language we speak. A video I would love to give to all my friends and relatives. And then discuss at the next family reunion!!!  "Profound film clouded by clunky plot"A deeply profound film filled with achingly-beautiful moments that ostensibly deals with memory. No doubt the film is partly about the resilient but illusory nature of our memories, but it's also about our own reconciliation between material success and the true meanings of life. I was particularly struck by one man's realization that the reason why he cannot come up with a happy memory is because he was oblivious of the moment when he made his mark on the world we so briefly occupy. What he was oblivious to was somebody else's love for him, a love that, although not reciprocated, is a sign nevertheless, an indication that he was alive, that he lived a worthy life. The film is deliberately paced, but that's not a problem because it gives the audience time to contemplate about what our happiest memories would be, what lasting marks or legacies we have left behind. The real problem with the film, however, is that its profundities are enveloped in the clunkiest of plots, bulked up with a number of unnecessary elements (the filming of individual memories, the unrequited love of one of the staff members). I know that to some, my complaints about the plot may seem petty compared to the sublime meaning of this film, but I found its poignancy too obscured by questions I had about the plot. For example, why videotape? Doesn't Limbo (or whatever this intermediate stage is) have digital technology? What about people who died before, say, the 1970's? Would they know what a videotape is or even know how to operate a VCR? And I'm also certain that computer effects can do a much better job of recreating clouds than a mass of cotton balls on a wire. Kore-eda would have been better off if the dreams had been reconstructed in a nondescript black box because its depiction of Limbo as some shabby terrestrial movie studio is just too hard to swallow. It's difficult to transcend our misplaced worship of the material world when we are so conscious of the hard fact that we are watching a movie, a movie we paid 8 bucks to see. At any rate, a week after seeing the film, I'm still thinking about what my one lasting memory would be. Like the characters in the film, I initially came up with memories of important achievements filled with self-satisfaction and material rewards, but upon further contemplation, I too realize that they do not represent what my life is about. Yes, the film will give you much to think about, if you're in the mood.  "Interesting"This movie makes you think about those magical moments in life (sometimes too short in time but extraordinary powerfuls) in which one is actually shaked, amused, amazed, impressed, joyed, by something or someone. The best part is that what is most important to you is very unique htat not even your wife or best friend can match because they have their own,,,,this made me think a lot about the loneliness of the human spirit. "One of the most thought provoking films I've ever seen"If you read the editorial review of the movie, you get the basic idea. However it just doesn't communicate the lyrical beauty and sweetness of the movie. I look at movies as just that, movies - not life altering experiences. To paraphrase Fran Liebowitz, "any place that sells JuJubees is not the home of high art." Not the case with this. It became the ultimate party/dinner/friend fodder. I mean really, given the one moment in your life where you could spend eternity, reliving it over and over again, which one would you choose? Much reflection, much looking at the past with different eyes. In this weird way, the movie actually *showed* me how to do it. The ending is beautiful and poignant. The credits rolled and I was sitting there, tears in my eyes, dumbfounded. This is not to say that the film doesn't have humor. It is, on top of the above, really, really charming. The acting is wonderful, the cast attractive in that wholesome Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "Hey gang, let's put on a show!" kind of way (albeit a Japanese version), and it's clever. Totally worth your time and money. Hey, if you don't want to buy it right now, why not rent it? When you see how wonderful it is, you can come back here and spend some bucks. |
