Cinema
After Life
ワンダフルライフ
Hirokazu Kore-eda · 1998
Synopsis
Every Monday, a group of the recently dead arrives at a building with an administrative look, between life and the afterlife; Moria sees a disused school in it. The staff explain the rule to them: each has seven days to choose a single memory from his life, which the team will recreate and film, and which he will keep for eternity while forgetting the rest. Of the twenty-two arrivals, most choose quickly; others hesitate, or refuse to choose.
Context
The screenplay, direction and editing are the director's; the idea came to him, according to Willamette University, from his grandfather's illness. He interviewed hundreds of people about the memory they would keep, more than five hundred, and the interviews, filmed in the manner of a documentary with non-professionals, are mixed with the acted scenes. Shown at the Toronto festival on 11 September 1998, the film was released in Japan on 17 April 1999 under a transcribed English title, “Wonderful Life”.
Who it is for
One hundred and eighteen minutes, between filmed interviews and acted scenes, in an ordinary setting of offices and corridors.
Prizes and reception
International Critics' Prize at San Sebastián and Golden Montgolfière, ex aequo, at Nantes, in 1998.
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