"Next Station, Heaven", is an early work of Hirokazu Koreeda. A literary film in 1998. The deep literary Japanese version of "Ghosts". [laughing]
That is, there is an organization that gathers people who have just passed away in one place. These people will be here for about 7 days. The first three days are used to choose, choose the most unforgettable, important and happiest segment in the past life, or talk about a period of time. Then, people from this organization will make this time into a small film. Then on the seventh day, we gathered everyone together and played this piece of film that belonged to him one by one. At the end of the film, this person will disappear, and then stay in this period of time forever, all the memories outside this period will be forgotten, only the memories of this short period of time.
The people who work in this organization have not chosen which memory they want to leave within three days. and was left in this dimension.
The hero is because he did not choose a memory within three days. And then have been doing this work for 50 years. He was 22 when he died, so he has stayed at 22 for the past 50 years, but the memory of the past has always existed.
What can I say, pure art film! The pace is really too slow! And no ups and downs. The first half of the scene is a bit like a documentary, with more than a dozen different people narrating to the camera, and I really fell asleep twice watching it. If it wasn't for a stab at me by my partner, I think I would have fallen asleep completely. In the second half, the storyline is a little bit advanced, and there are more characters for the hero and heroine, and it looks better.
In general, the quality of this film is still good, but the expression is relatively dull, and the overall style is more old-fashioned literary film. It's a movie from 1998 after all. However, the subtle emotional release that it wants to express, the beautiful nostalgia for the last of life, the deep struggle, reflection and longing contained in peace, and then let go. Wait wait, I can feel it.
Perhaps, this is also Hirokazu Koreeda's first exploration and initial formation of his own style. I look forward to his "Deeper Than the Sea" next Saturday, which is definitely better than this one. [bars teeth]
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