After Life [ワンダフルライフ] (1998) dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
If you had to distil your life into a single moment that defines you, that made you happy, that you were proud of, could you do it? If this is the end of your life, and this moment is the only one you could take with you beyond, could you do it?
Kore-eda’s masterpiece, After Life is set in a mundane, bureaucratic purgatory where the recently deceased are encouraged to choose a single memory to spend eternity with, which the overworked way-station staff endeavours to recreate and then film for them. Incorporating real people’s testimonies (from a previous documentary project) with actors, its naturalistic tone imperceptibly shifts into a profoundly poetic, powerful look at loss, memory and moviemaking itself.
“Say I choose a memory, from when I was eight or ten years old. Then I'll only remember how I felt back then? I'll be able to forget everything else? Really? You can forget? Well, then that really is heaven.”
Runtime: 1h58m
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Welcome to the Film and TV Society’s first screening for the 2021/22 academic year! Discussion will follow this film over zoom – a great space for discussing your ideas. Alternatively, treat the discussion like a podcast and just sit back to listen to other students’ thoughts.
The stream will begin a few minutes before the start of the screening.
Player 1
Player 2
