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In a disused schoolhouse somewhere between heaven and earth, the newly dead wait in Limbo. They are greeted by guides who assist them in sifting through their memories to find the one defining moment of their lives that they will carry into eternity. After three days most of the newly dead have chosen their memories which are then mocked-up on a low-tech sound stage and filmed. As they watch the cinematic re-creations of these memories they disappear from Limbo. Kore-eda’s film is both a gentle and heartfelt meditation on remembrance, love and forgiveness, and an investigation into the potent role that cinema plays in the creation, evocation and re-presentation of personal memory. Cast: Arata, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima, Takashi Naito, Kei Tani. In Japanese with English subtitles.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
315497
Language
Japanese
Audience classification
PG
Subject categories
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Death
Feature films → Feature films - Japan
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Death
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Memory
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)