Transition into a Sensory Hereafter — Memory and Sensation in After Life
“At the time, I searched desperately inside myself for any memories of happiness. Now, fifty years later, I’ve learned I was part of Someone else’s happiness. What a wonderful discovery”
The breeze of a hot summer’s day brushing the surface of one’s skin lingers in the memory of the recently deceased. For those whose corporeal body exists in a limbo of sorts, sensory experiences are treasured. A focus on the sensations of one’s life appears continuously throughout Kore-eda Hirokazu’s After Life. Following the recently departed and the workers who guide them, Kore-eda’s film is set in a world where individuals must choose a single memory to be recreated so they can exist forevermore in tandem with the memory. A bureaucratic hereafter where one must contemplate the entirety of one’s life. However, often what is remembered is not the people or the setting of an individual’s memories, but the sensory experiences located therein, and the emotions brought about by loved ones. As such, it makes sense for the capturing of these memories to be filmed; an audio-visual medium that perhaps best embodies the lived human experience. For what is film but not a realisation of humanity’s memories, dreams and ideas? The filmic body acts as a medium for that which exists only in one’s mind. And this is what struck me most about Kore-eda’s film, how perfectly it captures the sensory capabilities of film.
The director’s early work in documentary features, combined with a focus in later works on the beauty found within the quiet moments of everyday life really shines through in this film. The deceased often select moments that would be considered rather inconsequential within the grander scheme of one’s life. The sight of clouds from the cockpit of a plane, the feeling of the sun’s warm embrace as a baby and sitting on a park bench with one’s beloved are all selected over weddings, births and other experiences that would be considered life-defining. But this is a testament to the human experience. To be human is to experience the sensations around you and for the deceased whose corporeal experience is in a state of limbo, by metamorphosing into a sensory memory one can embody the human experience. Kore-eda appears to exemplify this through the character of Watanabe (Naito Taketoshi) whose determination to select a memory that defines him as an individual rather than by his relationship with others soon realises the fallacy of his sentiment. Emotions overwhelm his reason and the sensations of love and warmth spawned from simply sitting on a bench with his beloved define him as a person better than any singular act of selfhood could. As the quote that opens this piece states, it is by being a part of another’s experience of happiness that contentment can be found.
Contentment can be found in various forms, however, and one of the deceased’s chosen memories exemplifies this perfectly. One man chooses the memory of a summer train ride shaped by the sensations experienced. The train shakes as it crosses over the tracks, the noise of a busy carriage and of humanity existing outside, and the feeling of a breeze gently caressing a skin touched by the summer heat. This is perhaps the epitome of a lived experience. Inconsequential in shaping one’s life but the sensory pleasures of life enshroud one in a comforting embrace. If one must transition into paradise, then death’s embrace should be a celebration of the tenets of life itself. Humanity is comforted by the memories of a life defined by the action of living rather than one’s purpose or outcome. Living in those treasured memories captured upon the filmic body itself.
It is this search for comfort and contentment that leads the deceased to the filmic body of their memories. By filming their memories, the workers are utilising a medium that is textured in nature and a physicality that solidifies the idea of permanence. We see this in the filming of the memories themselves, the sensations described by the deceased are painstakingly recreated so that their capture on film allows them to have that same sensory experience yet again. The screening of these memories is a literal enrapturing experience, that transforms one’s corporeal body and merges with the filmic body. This experience is one that envelops the deceased in a sense of security and comfort that transports them to a sensory paradise. As head worker Nakamura (Tani Kei) states some can remember the experience of being in a mother’s womb and the sense of security afforded by such a situation. It is perhaps the ultimate destination for the deceased, a definite temporality that allows for one to have a defined sense of purpose and space. The wayward worker Shiori (Oda Erika) upon hearing this, attempts to recreate this sensory experience by immersing themselves entirely in water. Without purpose and confined to limbo, Shiori desperately searches for the purpose and comfort that can be found within the prospect of rebirth. And this is what the deceased experiences upon transcendence to the filmic body. Enveloped in the textured sensory experience of their chosen memory, they exist within the filmic body’s womb, providing a sense of purpose, contentment and security in a lived life. The possibility of being reborn through the sensory experiences of film.
