A Tough Decision

After Life, or ワンダフルライフ (Wandafuru Raifu), is one of my favorite Japanese films. I accidentally discovered it one day at Blockbuster (of all places), and I liked it from beginning to end. What that means is that I read the back cover, was intrigued by the story background, saw the movie, and liked it even more.

The director of After Life is Hirokazu Kore-eda. The title introduces the story quite well. This film is about the afterlife. So the story goes: after people die, they spend a week in this limbo between heaven and earth. The location resembles a school, and there are counselors stationed there to guide the dead in fulfilling their deed. This deed is for a person to choose a single memory from his or her life. As it turns out, the dead can only carry one memory with them to the afterlife; everything else will be forgotten.

The counselors have the duty of helping each person choose that memory. They do that with one on one counseling, watching videotapes of their life to jog their memory, and eventually recreating that memory in a quirky way of which I will not reveal. The setting of this midway point between life and death is very "normal". It is a regular school with dorm rooms and classrooms. We see many different characters from all walks of life who have died and must choose their memory. The counselors act very human as well. They argue amongst one another, we see what they do after working hours, we see their frustration when it looks like some of the dead won't make the one week deadline.

I was first intrigued by the theme of After Life. What memory would I choose to keep for eternity if I were to die today? The film got even better as I watched these people go through the selection process. The story isn't just about the dead people choosing a memory, but it is about the counselors, too. After Life is classic Kore-eda if you've seen his other films. It is about humans, about life, death, and all the details in between.

The movie was great, the characters were excellent. The question that this movie raises will keep you thinking until the day you die. Which memory would you choose?