What is the happiest memory you would like to hold onto forever? The following question is asked to different characters of a wide age range in the film, After Life(ワンダフルライフ) by Hirokazu Kore-eda. At the end of the film, the same question is asked to the audience, perhaps echoing in their hearts even after they finished watching.
Renown as a winner of the Palme d’Or of the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 for his film, Shoplifters(万引き家族), Hirokazu Kore-eda is a name familiar to many Japanese cinema audiences. Also, many would recognize him from other films as Our Little Sister(海街diary) and Nobody Knows(誰も知らない). As one of the biggest fans of Kore-eda’s films, I would like to say with quite strong assurance that his second film, Wonderful Life should be known more widely than Shoplifters, which gave him an international reputation.
What is unique about After Life is that it portrays the world between life and death without using any fantasy elements that can be observed in other films. There are no obvious CGI techniques to give an impression to the audience that the film is set in a world that is different from the world we live in now. The film sets the world after death in a station where people gather for a week to recall the most precious memory they had in their lives, and the staff in the station go to great lengths to reconstruct those memories.
Those who are used to watching films with a clear plot and a climax, such as movies like Marvel Cinema or romantic comedies, might find this film boring because the story progresses very slowly and in a monotonous way. It is safe to say that the film is like a documentary. The film focuses on how the characters who came to the station retrospect their memories of their lives. In the film, the characters can be classified into two types: those who refuse to recall their memories with misery and despair, and those who bring out their happiest memories they had with their lovers and family members. For example, in the film, an old woman named Kimiko smiles with full happiness by recalling the dance she did in front of people wearing a red dress and shoes when she was young.
Nowadays, it is the age where aesthetics of slowness is rarely seen. It is natural for our generation to use smartphones and laptops to access the latest information on the internet. We live in a society where we enjoy the advanced technology of easily exchanging information and executing work swiftly. But why not for a while, take a rest by stepping back, relishing an aesthetics of slowness like After Life suggests? It will bring you back to the most important purpose of life, the pursuit of happiness.