Review of After Life (1999) by Tor M — 19 Dec 2018
After people die, they come to a place where people greet them and ask the deceased to find a memory. They're favorite memory to keep for ever. This process takes a few days, but when the most important memory is cleared out, it's recreated and shot by camera.
This idea is terrific! I dig it. The dead people we get to know and the workers at the place are pretty interesting and so are the stories, but still this film feels a bit dragged for me. Talkative Japanese films are often hard to cope with, and throw in a vivid plot that demands attention and you are up for a hard film to digest.
It looks good, it got a few moments, but it's also a bit repitative and grey. Few scenes lifts me, few scenes feel directly interesting.
I'm a huge fan of Koreeda and a huge fan of fantasy-plots like this, vivid and smart. It never feels dreamy enough, kind of. The surroundings are a bit ordinary and gray and rather poor production values kills it a bit for me. It feels dated.
Known to be one of his best works, but for me it's probably his poorest. I gave it a solid score for it's idea and shooting, but it lacks charisma and power. It does makes you appreciate life and think though. What is my best memory?
6 out of 10 cotton skies.
This review of After Life (1999) was written by Tor M on 19 Dec 2018.
After Life has generally received very positive reviews.
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