After Life (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

the film is beautiful in all it’s restored glory and both poetic and powerful as expected from Koreeda. the booklet is also nice, not a fan of criterion new foldout instead of just a normal booklet, but the essay is great. unfortunately, the supplements are a bit on the paler side but you know what they say; quality over quantity. and there is some insightful information from the interviews but the commentary is really the best part.overall a great addition to the collection. god willing they do a box set for all his biggest hits sometime

I have been waiting for his movie to be re-release again. I had the original DVD only to lend it to someone who never returned it. Then it was out of print. The movie is a beautiful exploration between memory and the essence of one's life and sense of self. One's life experience is portrayed as an infinite number of videos. However, one's sense of self and identity is about choosing elements and events out of that to tell a story. The characters are at a way station where the staff of the afterlife are staging the one memory that the deceased will get to take with them to the next part of their journey. The new extra features include Kore-eda talking about the inspiration for this story.

A great movie that stood the taste of time. Just as good as Still Walking. I actually prefer Hirokazu Koreeda’s earlier movies to the latest ones. This is a great Criterion edition.

I’ve long considered Hirokazu Koreeda the best director currently working in Japan who is not named Hayao Miyazaki, and one of my favourite directors of all-time!I’ve seen 6 of his films up to this point and they’ve all been masterpieces. So, you can imagine my utter delight when the Criterion Collection announced one of his few films that I had yet to see as part of their August release slate: “After Life” (1998)The question at the centre of this film is simple but also existential and deeply profound: “If you could only choose one memory from your life to take with you when you pass on, which one would you choose?”This is the question posed to our varied assortment of characters in this film, and by fusing his documentarian sensibilities with an Ozu-like knack for simple yet emotive storytelling, Koreeda has crafted a profound, deeply human film that is at once both mournful and haunting, while also being life-affirmingly beautiful.The Criterion Blu-Ray remaster is simply stunning, and the plethora of supplemental features makes this film more than worth the purchase price, in my opinion!It’s an absolute masterpiece, and an essential addition to any Criterion collector’s collection!