Afterlife

Japan 1999, 118 minutes
Dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu
In Japanese with English subtitles
Rating: [M]
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama / Fantasy

Topics: Showbiz.

Feat. Arata Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima

Aroview: Original, intriguing conception of what happens after life - a panel of students challenge a succession of deceased persons to choose one moment from their lives that they can have recreated and held with them for eternity. Twenty-two stories are interleaved, whittled down from an original 500 personal anecdotes, and restaged using a mix of actors and actual interviewees.

A gorgeously measured, atmospheric first half gives way to a droll meditation on film-making as a factory of dreams, and thus arguably misses being as profound and moving as it might have been. Nevertheless, this provokes viewers to think about their own 'moments', and is a film that will indeed 'stay with you'.

NZ International Film Festival 1999