After Life (1998)

After death, people have just one week to choose only a memory to keep for eternity.

Director:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Writer:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Stars:

Arata Iura, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima

7 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arata Iura	...	Takashi Mochizuki, counselor (as Arata)
Erika Oda	...	Shiori Satonaka, trainee counselor
Susumu Terajima	...	Satoru Kawashima, counselor
Takashi Naitô	...	Takuro Sugie, counselor
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Kyoko Watanabe, Ichiro's Wife
Kei Tani	...	Kennosuke Nakamura, boss
Taketoshi Naitô	...	Ichiro Watanabe, who cannot choose his favourite experience
Tôru Yuri	...	Gisuke Shoda, who talks about sex
Yûsuke Iseya	...	Yusuke Iseya, who refuses to choose his experience
Sayaka Yoshino	...	Kana Yoshino, talks about Disneyland
Kazuko Shirakawa	...	Nobuko Amano, who talks about her affair with a married man
Kôtarô Shiga	...	Kenji Yamamoto, who wants to forget his past
Hisako Hara	...	Kiyo Nishimura, old lady who loves cherry blossoms
Sadao Abe	...	Ichiro (as young man)
Natsuo Ishidô	...	Kyoko Watanabe as a young woman

Storyline

After people die, they spend a week with counselors, also dead, who help them pick one memory, the only memory they can take to eternity. They describe the memory to the staff who work with a crew to film it and screen it at week's end; eternity follows. 22 dead arrive that week, assigned to three counselors and a trainee. One old man cannot find a memory, so he watches videotape of his life. Others pick their memory quickly, and the film crew gets right to work. The trainee, 18-year-old Shiori, helps a teenage girl choose a memory other than Disneyland. The youthful staff have a secret and feelings, too, which play out, especially Shiori's affection for her mentor, Mochizuki

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Plot Keywords:

eternity | memory | movie set | filmmaking | teenage girl | 

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Taglines:

What is the one memory you would take with you?

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

17 April 1999 (Japan)

Also Known As:

After Life

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,791, 16 May 1999, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$801,985, 26 March 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Engine Film, Sputnik Productions, TV Man Union

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Much of the action in After Life is shown as interviews conducted with the recently deceased regarding their lives. Some of these interviews were scripted, but many were done impromptu, with real people (not actors) reminiscing about their own lives.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Notting Hill/Besieged/Trekkies/Tea with Mussolini/After Life (1999)

User Reviews

A quietly stunning fantasy as documentary.

One of the few masterpieces of the year, and a rare sighting of a new talent who will surely become one of the greats. Fantasy is once again shown to be the most flexible of all forms - it can sustain profound metaphysical questions as well as examinations into Japanese history, culture and society. But, most importantly, it is the true form to examine people - their hopes and desires, fears and failures. Despite the buff hue and downbeat tone, AFTER LIFE is a comedy, it celebrates life even as it ends, even as it disappoints. It also makes the strongest case for - and against - filmmaking in recent memory.