Circle of Life and Death

In Koreeda’s film Afterlife, originally Wonderful Life, we examine an interesting perspective on the Japanese take on what lies beyond the grave. Before the souls can enter into the next life they must choose one memory to take with them, then the souls running the place where the dead pass through recreate that memory for them. Ichiro, one of the younger workers at the waystation, discovers he was once married to one of the elderly souls passing through. He does not remember her and goes on an estranged journey to rediscover his passed life. In another twist, he discovers that this woman he married had been engaged to another worker, Takashi, who had been killed during the war. This movie was filled with twists and turns and kept me wondering, and that’s something I enjoy in a good movie.

I usually have trouble connecting to Japanese films, especially anime ones, even though I am an animation major. I don’t know why, that’s just the way it’s always been with me. But I really love foreign films in general, especially scary ones or ones that keep your brain thinking. This film kept me on my toes, so I enjoyed it. I was happy that I was finally able to connect to a Japanese film that wasn’t in the horror genre. What I found most interesting was how in their world, one week represented one year in the time of the living. The week would begin with autumn and the newly dead would arrive. By the time it came for them to experience their memory and move on to Heaven it was spring again. It’s a never ending cycle of life and death; of old and new.