CPLT 389W Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Maborosi, Schmaltz
25 Jun 2018
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AFTER LIFE FILM NOTES finished
Link: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/after-life-1999
The film is completely matter-of-fact. No special effects, no celestial choirs, no angelic
flim-flam. The staff is hard-working; they have a lot of memories to process in a week,
and a lot of production work to do on the individual films. There are pragmatic details to
be workedout: Scripts have to be written, sets constructed, special effects improvised.
This isn't all metaphysical work; a member of an earlier group, we learn, choose Disney
World, singling out the Splash Mountain ride.
Kore-eda, with this film and the 1997 masterpiece "Maborosi," has earned the right to
be considered with Kurosawa, Bergman and other great humanists of the cinema. His
films embrace the mystery of life, and encourage us to think about why we are here,
and what makes us truly happy.
At a time when so many movies feed on irony and cynicism, here is a man who hopes
we will feel better and wiser when we leave his film.
The method of the film contributes to the impact. Some of these people, and some of
their memories, are real (we are not told which).
Kore-eda filmed hundreds of interviews with ordinary people in Japan. The faces on the
screen are so alive, the characters seem to be recalling events they really lived through,
in world of simplicity and wonder.
Although there are a lot of characters in the movie, we have no trouble telling them
apart because each is unique and irreplaceable.
The staff members offer a mystery of their own. Who are they, and why were they
chosen to work here at the way-station, instead of moving onto the next stage like
everybody else? The solution to that question is contained in revelations I will not
discuss, because they emerge sonaturally from the film.
One of the most emotional moments in "After Life" is when a young staff member
discovers a connection between himself and an elderly newarrival. The new arrival is
able to tell him something that changes hisentire perception of his life. This revelation,
of a young love long ago, has the kind of deep bittersweet resonance as the ending of
"The Dead," the James Joyce short story (and John Huston film) about a man who feels
a sudden burst of identification with his wife's first lover, a young man now long dead.
"After Life" considers the kind of delicate material that could bedestroyed by schmaltz.
It's the kind of film that Hollywood likes to remake with vulgar, paint-by-the-numbers
sentimentality. It is like a transcendent version of "Ghost," evoking the same emotions,
but deserving them. Knowing that his premise is supernatural and fantastical, Kore-eda
makes everything else in the film quietly pragmatic. The staff labors against deadlines.
The arrivals set to work on their memories. There will be a screening of the films on
Saturday--and then Sunday, and everything else, will cease to exist. Except for the
memories. Which memory would I choose? I sit looking out the window, as images play
through my mind. There are so many moments to choose from. Just thinking about
Document Summary
No special effects, no celestial choirs, no angelic flim-flam. The staff is hard-working; they have a lot of memories to process in a week, and a lot of production work to do on the individual films. There are pragmatic details to be workedout: scripts have to be written, sets constructed, special effects improvised. This isn"t all metaphysical work; a member of an earlier group, we learn, choose disney. Kore-eda, with this film and the 1997 masterpiece " maborosi ," has earned the right to be considered with kurosawa, bergman and other great humanists of the cinema. His films embrace the mystery of life, and encourage us to think about why we are here, and what makes us truly happy. At a time when so many movies feed on irony and cynicism, here is a man who hopes we will feel better and wiser when we leave his film. The method of the film contributes to the impact.
