By popular demand, there will be a free screening Sunday of the award-winning Japanese film "After Life," on the University of the Virgin Islands' St. Thomas campus.
Hirokazu Kore-eda's 1999 film asks the question: What is our single most treasured memory? In a purgatory-like way station, newly passed arrivals are asked to choose just one memory; a film will be made to reenact that memory and each person will pass into eternity with just that memory, forgetting all else.In his four-star review, Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert said: "With this film and the 1997 masterpiece 'Maborosi,' (Kore-eda) has earned the right to be considered with Kurosawa, Bergman and the other great humanists of the cinema…. It is like a transcendent version of 'Ghost,' evoking the same emotions but deserving them."
"After Life" was shown on St. Croix this week as part of free Japanese cultural activities at the University of the Virgin Islands that also included an exhibition of ikebana, the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement, and a show of Japanese stamp art.The screening will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Chase Auditorium, which is located in the Business Administration Division, Room B110. The screening is sponsored by the Consulate General of Japan in New York, the Japan Foundation and the University of the Virgin Islands.
