After Life
If you could choose only one memory to hold on to for eternity, what would it be? That’s the question at the heart of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s revelatory international breakthrough, a bittersweet fantasia in which the recently deceased find themselves in a limbo realm where they must select a single cherished moment from their life to be recreated on film for them to take into the next world. After Life’s high-concept premise is grounded in Kore‑eda’s documentary-like approach to the material, which he shaped through interviews with hundreds of Japanese citizens. What emerges is a panoramic vision of the human experience—its ephemeral joys and lingering regrets—and a quietly profound meditation on memory, our interconnectedness, and the amberlike power of cinema to freeze time.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 2K digital restoration, approved by writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich
- New interviews with Kore-eda and cinematographers Masayoshi Sukita and Yutaka Yamazaki
- Deleted scenes
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen
New cover featuring photography by Masayoshi Sukita, designed by Eric Skillman
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 2K digital restoration, approved by writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring film scholar Linda C. Ehrlich
- New interviews with Kore-eda and cinematographers Masayoshi Sukita and Yutaka Yamazaki
- Deleted scenes
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen
New cover featuring photography by Masayoshi Sukita, designed by Eric Skillman
Cast
- Arata
- Takashi Mochizuki
- Erika Oda
- Shiori Satonaka
- Susumu Terajima
- Satoru Kawashima
- Takashi Naito
- Takuro Sugie
- Kei Tani
- Ken-nosuke Nakamura
- Taketoshi Naito
- Ichiro Watanabe
- Toru Yuri
- Kisuke Shoda
- Kazuko Shirakawa
- Nobuko Amano
- Yusuke Iseya
- Yusuke Iseya
- Hisako Hara
- Kiyo Nishimura
- Sayaka Yoshino
- Kana Yoshimoto
- Kotaro Shiga
- Kenji Yamamoto
- Natsuo Ishido
- Kyoko Tsukamoto
- Kyoko Kagawa
- Kyoko Watanabe
Credits
- Director
- Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Writer
- Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Editor
- Hirokazu Kore-eda
- General producer
- Yutaka Shigenobu
- Producers
- Shiho Sato
- Masayuki Akieda
- Cinematographers
- Yukata Yamazaki
- Masayoshi Sukita
- Stills photographer
- Masayoshi Sukita
- Sound designer
- Osamu Takizawa
- Art directors
- Toshihiro Isomi
- Hideo Gunji
- Composer
- Yasuhiro Kasamatsu
- Costumes
- Shigeru Aoki
- Sound effects
- Kenji Shibasaki
Trailer for After Life
