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After Life

After Life (1999)

May. 12,1999
|
7.6
|
NR
| Fantasy Drama

On a cold Monday morning, a group of counselors clock in at an old-fashioned social services office. Their task is to interview the recently deceased, record their personal details, then, over the course of the week, assist them in choosing a single memory to keep for eternity.

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Reviews

VeteranLight
1999/05/12

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

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Tedfoldol
1999/05/13

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

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Bluebell Alcock
1999/05/14

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

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Scarlet
1999/05/15

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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dwpollar
1999/05/16

1st watched 2/6/2010 – 6 out of 10 (Dir:Kore-eda Hirokazu): Absorbing yet slow-moving drama about a station between death and everlasting life where people go to choose one memory from their past to forever be presented to them in the rest of their existence. The movie is kind of filmed in a realistic documentary style as we are shown the workplace, the workers and then the 22 people who have recently died and have to choose their one memory this week. The way it works is they have three days to choose and work with a counselor who helps them. The workers then recreate the scene with the person from the memory kind of directing the piece that they will forever see. Once they are shown the final cut they miraculously disappear and are sent to their final resting place. The movie is initially about the deceased and the process they go thru, but then we learn about the workers and why they are there also. They are there because they were unable or chose not to choose themselves when they died -- so they are kind of sentenced to help others choose until they figure it out. OK, so the process is complicated but the power of the movie is what it does inside you while watching it. You start thinking about what you'd choose (if anything). The slow pace almost kills the movie's effectiveness despite it's message though as you wait patiently for an ending. This is definitely a unique movie but it would be hard to watch more than once – but it would be worth the one watch.

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lastliberal
1999/05/17

This was a perfect film for watching on a quiet Sunday morning. It made me reflect on my own life, and realize that I would probably be one of the counselors in the afterlife.It was brilliantly written and directed and one of the most innovative stories I have seen on screen. After death, you spend a week in a way-station to reflect on your life and take one memory with you. It is not an easy process as I discovered.I was interested in the fact that some people can remember all the way back to the womb. Picking a happy memory before I was an adult is almost impossible for me, so I cannot imagine going back that far. Most people remember only to age three or four.I was fascinated with the man who wanted to leave behind some evidence of his existence. One man could not remember any happy memories in his 70+ years, so he had to sit through video tapes, one for each year of his life, to help him. It seems that there was a connection with one of the counselors and this played out in an unusual way at the end. Choosing your best memory as the fact that you were someone else's best memory and that you made one person happy.Most of us fall into the category expressed by one man. "I had a so-so education, a so-so job, a so-so marriage, and a so-so retirement." How do you pick a happy or important memory from that? I also liked one man's response when he picked his memory after lamenting that most of the memories of his life were bad. After being told he would forget all the bad memories, he exclaimed, "That truly is heaven." An unusual film that will be in my memory for a long time.

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gentendo
1999/05/18

I would like to observe the character arc of counselor Mochizuki and how he grew within the one week period at the afterlife institution. He is introduced as a seemingly "average" individual; one who does not attract much attention let alone curiosity. In fact, my attention was originally geared heavily towards Watanabe's story simply because his struggle to choose a favorite memory evoked a lot of interest and mind participation. Contrariwise, Mochizuki seemed to possess no inner conflict that was worthy of inquiry, although his outer conflict, too, at first seemed mildly intriguing (i.e. having to help Watanabe find a memory). Ironically, however, as the beauty of Watanabe's character unraveled, it carefully led to the discovery and beauty of Mochizuki's character.Both of their worlds merged together during private interview sessions, creating long awaited answers and long lost harmonies between their pasts. They learn in one particular session that they both share the same dilemma: the battle to choose a perfect memory. In addition to sharing the same dilemma, they also share the same generation as well as lover (Kyoko). With these discoveries, they both become, in a sense, the symbol of overlapping ovals portrayed on the institution's flag; a metaphor for how it takes two people earnestly involved in the other's life to discover self-identity. Each needs the other and each becomes part of the other person's discovery of happiness.Given these revelations into Mochizuki's past, his character suddenly becomes incredibly dynamic and provocative; one who is on the same empathetic level as Watanabe. We learn that he is not simply at the institution to help others find their memories, but that the entire staff, including himself, is placed in counseling positions because they themselves never chose a memory to live with for eternity. It would seem, then, that the staff is being poetically revealed by the director as restless beings living in purgatory.The idea of restlessness and inner turmoil (in the staff) is illustrated by the contrasts of camera movement. In the beginning, most of the shots are static and evenly framed. We are observing the majority of shots through the staff's eyes, which gives the film a documentary type lens (especially during the interviews). As a result, this type of camera-work creates the illusion of making the audience think that the staff is well-balanced and in control, both internally and externally. After all, they are the ones with the camera and choose how to focus the shots during interviews. The irony of this, however, is later exposed when we learn that each staff member's progression towards heaven is stultified because they never chose a memory—hence their positions as staff members. As soon as we learn this (which if I recall happens on Thursday) the camera-work becomes more hand-held, shaky and off kilter.This contrast in camera-work becomes even more beautiful and poignant because it also reflects the two stages that the staff undergoes during both preproduction and production of those whose lives they wish to change. In preproduction, they gather all the material they need from the recently deceased (via interviews) in order to recreate their memories on film. The preproduction sequences (the interviews) are shot with well balanced and controlled frames (perhaps an expression of the more controlled side of film-making). As the staff travels into the actual production of recreating their guests' memories, the camera-work then turns towards the more shaky and imbalanced frames (perhaps an expression of the more difficult and chaotic part of film-making: the actual shooting itself).It was as if the camera was making a philosophical commentary on the nature of freewill and its relation to heaven and hell. That is, to choose explicitly one's destiny (or in this case, one's memory) means to live a well balanced, evenly framed existence; and contrariwise, to explicitly not choose one's destiny, but to neutrally balk on the sidelines means to live an existence of uncertainty and imbalance.This leads now to the reason I chose Mochizuki. Unlike most who surround him, he willingly chooses to end his inner pain by realizing (with the help of others) that true happiness is not found by dwelling upon one's own memories, but by being a part of some else's memories. When asked about his earliest memory, he recalls an intense and vivid memory of snow. Snow is a symbol of his rebirth; the delicate and soft coat that whitens out his previous life and gives birth to his new life—a life that he was only able to discover through the people he met at the institution, and more especially his relationship with Watanabe. The memory he chooses, then, becomes his realization into the insight of what happiness is; a simple moment that came full circle into his mind as he sat on a nostalgic park bench thinking about those in whom he loved.

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doctorsmoothlove
1999/05/19

What happens when you die? Are you transported to a state of eternal happiness or do you spend the rest of eternity in damnation? The Abrahamic religious view of the afterlife is very black and white. It leaves little room for the imagination. However, non-Western cultures have different concepts of the afterlife. Through watching various anime and reading graphic novels, I've come to the conclusion that the Japanese, at least partially, may view the afterlife as determined by the individual. In After Life, (the English title) Hirokazu Kore-eda elaborates on this concept. In the film, people attend a camp to determine which of their many memories they wish to keep before departing to the afterlife. They crew at the camp reacts this memory into a mini-film and the recently deceased live with this memory for the rest of eternity.After Life employs non-actors for the majority of the screen time. These people have no formal training, which makes their lines appear all the more genuine. When they speak, their words have an honesty about them which cannot be staged. Something remarkable about the film is that it doesn't distinguish its characters by developing them, but with the unique nature of the memories they have. Furthermore, their memories are realistic and touching. Some people wish to cherish the memory of a lover; while others (especially those who were young when they died) choose a memory of childhood. A prominent theme is the comforting effect that memory has for individuals.The staff at the unnamed camp is the most mysterious of all. We are not told why they are there, but once we think more of the film's premise. The staff is composed of those who could not choose a memory and remain there to guide others to afterlife. Are they condemned live in a purgatory-state of anxiety or are have they chosen to remain there? The film offers a slight answer to this query, but it isn't necessary. The means by which it does this is the interaction of a staff member with an arrival. We learn that some of the staff wishes to take responsibility for their actions by not forgetting them.Kore-eda treats the question he proposes with much earnestly. He doesn't present anything to distract this message. There is no antagonist other than the people themselves. This does much for the film's credibility. There is no problem with the progression of the plot, nor is there a plot hole. Some criticize the film because the dead attendees sleep, eat, and why must the memory be recreated. If someone you know reads a review and asks you this, suggest that they shouldn't the film. Such petty criticism is unjustified. The film doesn't attempt to convince us of its reality. Kore-eda wants to show us his idea, and he adds these scenes to help us identify with the workers. This is why the leader reminds the others that they shouldn't become attached to the patrons.How can a film with no protagonist, no character development, and no special effects be so warmly received? After Life is able to do this because it takes a different approach to entertaining its audience. It presents an actual topic (death) and elaborates on its idea of what happens thereafter. This approach mimics the technique used by several documentaries. The end result is the viewer's satisfaction in having watched director Kore-eda's proposal of the afterlife. One may fastidiously criticize the non-essential scenes of the film, but this criticism ignores the existential question the film proposes. While few will see this film, those who do will recall the experience vividly. The film distinguishes itself by analyzing a concept with no superlatives.

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