"Next Stop, Heaven" (after life), filmed in 1999, is the second film independently directed by director Hirokazu Koreeda. This film uses documentary techniques to combine reality (documentary) and surreal (alternative world view) for the first time. The perfect combination is a rare good film full of imagination and humanistic care.
In the conversation between Hirokazu Koreeda and Jia Zhangke, the director said,
"The whole film consists of three parts: one part is the staff's visit to the old man who reported to heaven, and the questions and answers of the routine formula; the second part is the old man's passing The videotape reviews his own life; the third part is that the interviewers reenact the happiest scene in everyone's life in the studio. Here fiction and interviews are related to each other, making the audience rethink what is real and life in the conflict , image... For me, the purpose of combining records and fiction is to achieve reality."
A surreal interview in a surreal scene. When the old man talked about World War II and the Great Kanto Earthquake, the shocking force hit people all at once. That's it.
But the director is not satisfied with this, and the subtle relationship between the characters in the story is also intriguing. The lover of the old man's ordinary life is Arata's fiancee, and Oda Erika is very fond of this.
It was Hirokazu Koreeda who was very restrained in expressing human emotions. The parties did not expose the truth, and the person in love was just sulking alone, overturning the ice and water on the ground. Some people think that this headless one-man show is too boring, but this paragraph is the most straightforward and candid paragraph that reflects the girl's inner feelings. Not only is it not boring at all, but it is also full of poetry!
The director's handling of the spatial relationship is also very interesting. The main scene of the whole film is in an old building, with iron windows, mottled doors and walls, concrete floors, old-fashioned tables and beds, which remind people of a childhood hometown. The scene in the old school is really nostalgic for the old days.
In such a closed space, the director tried his best to create a sense of more and farther space, allowing people to breathe and create a gentle reflection effect. For example, the respondents all sat at a table with a window, outside the window was sunlight and green trees. It is easier to get close to the emotional heart of the interviewee.
Occasionally, the space will be far away, withdrawn, and watch the place calmly from a distance from a spectator's, or God-like, perspective. It produces a sense of detachment, a surreal picture effect.
This kind of scene is unified, the plot is not sloppy, and there are many characters interviewed, but the relationship between the characters can be established. More importantly, save your budget! In 1999, the young director Hirokazu Kore-eda used extremely limited shooting conditions to create a story far from the meaning of the scene.
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