After Life
Encyclopedia
After Life, known in Japan as , is a 1998 film
by Japan
ese director
Hirokazu Koreeda
starring Arata
, Oda Erika and Terajima Susumu.
's A Pure Formality
, Koreeda's After Life is set in a waystation where the souls of the recently deceased are processed before entering heaven. "Heaven
," for the film, is a single memory from one's life.
The movie is set in a structure resembling a decrepit travel lodge or social services institution. A group of people who have just died check in at the beginning of each week, and the "social workers" resident in the lodge explain to each guest their situation. The newly-dead have until Wednesday to decide what the single happiest or most significant memory from their life is, and then for the rest of the week the workers make short movies to recreate each person's chosen memory.
At the end of the week, the movies are shown in the screening room. As soon as each person sees his or her own memory, he or she vanishes to whatever unknown state of existence lies beyond and takes only that single memory with them into eternity.
The story revolves around two of the counselors, Takashi (Arata) and Shiori (Oda). Takashi has been assigned to help an old man, Ichiro (played by Naito Taketoshi), select his memory. Takashi reviews videotape of Ichiro's life and learns that Ichiro had married Takashi's former fiancée after Takashi had been killed during World War II
. Takashi has Ichiro assigned to another counselor, but is still troubled by his memories, causing both him and his quasi-romantic interest Shiori to re-examine their (after-) lives.
Koreeda got his start directing television
documentaries
for TV Man Union. Much of the action in After Life is shown as interview
s conducted with the recently deceased regarding their lives. Some of these interviews were scripted, but many were done impromptu, with real people (not actor
s) reminiscing about their own lives.
Reviews
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Hirokazu Koreeda
Hirokazu Koreeda
is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. His films explore themes of memory, death, and coming to terms with loss.Koreeda originally planned to be a novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University instead worked as an assistant director on documentaries for TV Man Union...
starring Arata
Arata (actor)
Arata is a Japanese actor from Tokyo, Japan. He writes his name in Japanese as ARATA using capital letters.-Filmography:* Wonderful Life * Shady Grove * Distance * Ping Pong...
, Oda Erika and Terajima Susumu.
Plot summary
Like Giuseppe TornatoreGiuseppe Tornatore
-Life and career:Born in Bagheria near Palermo, Tornatore developed an interest in acting and the theatre from at least the age of 16 and put on works by Luigi Pirandello and Eduardo De Filippo.He worked initially as a freelance photographer...
's A Pure Formality
A Pure Formality
A Pure Formality is a 1994 thriller film directed and written by Giuseppe Tornatore. It stars Gérard Depardieu as a reclusive writer and Roman Polanski as a police detective.-Plot summary:...
, Koreeda's After Life is set in a waystation where the souls of the recently deceased are processed before entering heaven. "Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
," for the film, is a single memory from one's life.
The movie is set in a structure resembling a decrepit travel lodge or social services institution. A group of people who have just died check in at the beginning of each week, and the "social workers" resident in the lodge explain to each guest their situation. The newly-dead have until Wednesday to decide what the single happiest or most significant memory from their life is, and then for the rest of the week the workers make short movies to recreate each person's chosen memory.
At the end of the week, the movies are shown in the screening room. As soon as each person sees his or her own memory, he or she vanishes to whatever unknown state of existence lies beyond and takes only that single memory with them into eternity.
The story revolves around two of the counselors, Takashi (Arata) and Shiori (Oda). Takashi has been assigned to help an old man, Ichiro (played by Naito Taketoshi), select his memory. Takashi reviews videotape of Ichiro's life and learns that Ichiro had married Takashi's former fiancée after Takashi had been killed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Takashi has Ichiro assigned to another counselor, but is still troubled by his memories, causing both him and his quasi-romantic interest Shiori to re-examine their (after-) lives.
Koreeda got his start directing television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
documentaries
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....
for TV Man Union. Much of the action in After Life is shown as interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
s conducted with the recently deceased regarding their lives. Some of these interviews were scripted, but many were done impromptu, with real people (not actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s) reminiscing about their own lives.
Cast
- Takashi Mochizuki - ArataArata (actor)Arata is a Japanese actor from Tokyo, Japan. He writes his name in Japanese as ARATA using capital letters.-Filmography:* Wonderful Life * Shady Grove * Distance * Ping Pong...
- Shiori Satonaka - Erika Oda
- Satoru Kawashima - Susumu TerajimaSusumu Terajimais a Japanese actor who has appeared in over 100 films, 15 television commercials, three PVs, and numerous television dramas in a career spanning over 20 years. He rarely is the star of the films he is in but he is widely respected for taking every job seriously and diving into his work,...
- Takuro Sugie - Takashi Naito
- Kyoko Watanabe (Ichiro's Wife) - Kyōko KagawaKyôko Kagawais a Japanese actress. She has appeared in leading and supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well and High and Low, Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story, and Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff.- Filmography :...
- Kennosuke Nakamura - Kei TaniKei Taniwas a Japanese comedian, actor and musician. Born in Tokyo, he learned to play the trombone and, while a student at Chuo University, began playing in jazz bands performing for American soldiers during the Occupation of Japan. He quit university and joined the City Slickers with Frankie Sakai in 1953...
- Ichiro Watanabe - Taketoshi Naito
- Gisuke Shoda - Toru Yuri
- Yusuke Iseya - Yūsuke IseyaYusuke Iseyais a Japanese actor.He was born in Tokyo, Japan. With his modeling career , Yūsuke is known for Loreal , Men's Nonno magazine, Prada , and Asahi Aqua Blue....
- Kana Yoshino - Sayaka Yoshino
- Nobuko Amano - Kazuko ShirakawaKazuko Shirakawais a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films during the 1970s. She appeared in Nikkatsu's first film in the Roman Porno series, Apartment Wife , and is considered the first of the three "Nikkatsu Queens" of the 1970s...
- Kenji Yamamoto - Kotaro Shiga
- Kiyo Nishimura - Hisako Hara
- Ichiro (as young man) - Sadao AbeSadao Abeis a Japanese actor and musician from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and his real name is . His popularity started as the lead singer of the Japanese rock band Group Tamashii...
- Kyoko Watanabe (as young woman) - Natsuo Ishido
External links
- Film-series' speech by James Bowman
Reviews