People are voting emotionally.

Beautiful, moving film.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

What a concept and executed with confidence and consideration to the audience.You don't really know coming in but the lighting kind of gives it away. Still the movie trust that you are smart enough to pick it up. It doesn't go to the Sixth sense hyperbole.Albeit some of the stories are not as real as it could be, but it takes the time, tells you about the typical human nuance of regrets, hope and dreams.It is slow but it needs to be slow but it worked out its logic and and sets the pace of this place - into our heart.

Alright, I seem to be more excited about the reviews than the actual movie. So many people seem to have gotten so much out of this film and that is wonderful. Often our perspective is a reflection on where we are in life. I initially went online to understand what the was the point of the movie because I was confused. It was the highest rated film that I had watched in a while. Unfortunately, I am not one to give up on things, but I was in pain for it to end. I had hoped it would have some redeeming quality.The premise of the film is certainly a novel thought as far as movie plots go. I have often found foreign film plots to have more substance and reality than many of the American films. The plot reminds me of someone who is going to have Alzheimer's except they can retain one memory. To me, Alzheimer's is s very disturbing form of existence. Basically our hereafter is a loss of memory with only one thought in tack. The other reviews that I read tend to avoid this literal interpretation and speak of increasing our own perspective of life and I can see that. I thank them for sharing their interpretation. Some of the things we attach ourselves are trivial in scheme of things and this is a great awareness, I just didn't get that from the movie. I guess, I have more of a question about our perspectives than the movie. How is it that we can watch the same movie and range from excitement to sheer boredom. I do love the diversity of this world, so for those who get indignant when someone doesn't agree, just let it go.I suppose I was looking for meaning in the movie and only found a greater meaning in the reviews. I did get a kick out of some of the poor reviews because those folks had a great sense of humor. Let's agree to disagree. Just don't invite me over for another viewing.

The premise of this story is that upon your death, you stay for one week at a nondescript establishment where sympathetic councillors help you to select ONE outstanding memory from your life. Whatever you chose, (if you decide to chose) will be made into a short film, and you will live within that life-defining memory for all eternity. Many of the after-lifers are non-actors and it is their memories that give an emotional weight to this beautifully realised piece; the elderly lady whose wartime memory of dancing for her brother in her new red dress is beautifully poignant; the man who discovers that he has wasted his life by devotion to a job that he hates, and the teenager who cannot chose between a trip to Disneyland and the smell of her mother. Every once in a while, a movie come along that astonishes and delights, and it is for wonderful movies like this that I cheerfully wade through hundreds of hours of mediocre, derivative dross. This is a life-affirming and deeply humanistic meditation on what it means to live a good life. I absolutely recommend this beautiful, uplifting movie.

I would like to observe the character arc of counselor Mochizuki and how he grew within the one week period at the afterlife institution. He is introduced as a seemingly "average" individual; one who does not attract much attention let alone curiosity. In fact, my attention was originally geared heavily towards Watanabe's story simply because his struggle to choose a favorite memory evoked a lot of interest and mind participation. Contrariwise, Mochizuki seemed to possess no inner conflict that was worthy of inquiry, although his outer conflict, too, at first seemed mildly intriguing (i.e. having to help Watanabe find a memory). Ironically, however, as the beauty of Watanabe's character unraveled, it carefully led to the discovery and beauty of Mochizuki's character.Both of their worlds merged together during private interview sessions, creating long awaited answers and long lost harmonies between their pasts. They learn in one particular session that they both share the same dilemma: the battle to choose a perfect memory. In addition to sharing the same dilemma, they also share the same generation as well as lover (Kyoko). With these discoveries, they both become, in a sense, the symbol of overlapping ovals portrayed on the institution's flag; a metaphor for how it takes two people earnestly involved in the other's life to discover self-identity. Each needs the other and each becomes part of the other person's discovery of happiness.Given these revelations into Mochizuki's past, his character suddenly becomes incredibly dynamic and provocative; one who is on the same empathetic level as Watanabe. We learn that he is not simply at the institution to help others find their memories, but that the entire staff, including himself, is placed in counseling positions because they themselves never chose a memory to live with for eternity. It would seem, then, that the staff is being poetically revealed by the director as restless beings living in purgatory.The idea of restlessness and inner turmoil (in the staff) is illustrated by the contrasts of camera movement. In the beginning, most of the shots are static and evenly framed. We are observing the majority of shots through the staff's eyes, which gives the film a documentary type lens (especially during the interviews). As a result, this type of camera-work creates the illusion of making the audience think that the staff is well-balanced and in control, both internally and externally. After all, they are the ones with the camera and choose how to focus the shots during interviews. The irony of this, however, is later exposed when we learn that each staff member's progression towards heaven is stultified because they never chose a memory—hence their positions as staff members. As soon as we learn this (which if I recall happens on Thursday) the camera-work becomes more hand-held, shaky and off kilter.This contrast in camera-work becomes even more beautiful and poignant because it also reflects the two stages that the staff undergoes during both preproduction and production of those whose lives they wish to change. In preproduction, they gather all the material they need from the recently deceased (via interviews) in order to recreate their memories on film. The preproduction sequences (the interviews) are shot with well balanced and controlled frames (perhaps an expression of the more controlled side of film-making). As the staff travels into the actual production of recreating their guests' memories, the camera-work then turns towards the more shaky and imbalanced frames (perhaps an expression of the more difficult and chaotic part of film-making: the actual shooting itself).It was as if the camera was making a philosophical commentary on the nature of freewill and its relation to heaven and hell. That is, to choose explicitly one's destiny (or in this case, one's memory) means to live a well balanced, evenly framed existence; and contrariwise, to explicitly not choose one's destiny, but to neutrally balk on the sidelines means to live an existence of uncertainty and imbalance.This leads now to the reason I chose Mochizuki. Unlike most who surround him, he willingly chooses to end his inner pain by realizing (with the help of others) that true happiness is not found by dwelling upon one's own memories, but by being a part of some else's memories. When asked about his earliest memory, he recalls an intense and vivid memory of snow. Snow is a symbol of his rebirth; the delicate and soft coat that whitens out his previous life and gives birth to his new life—a life that he was only able to discover through the people he met at the institution, and more especially his relationship with Watanabe. The memory he chooses, then, becomes his realization into the insight of what happiness is; a simple moment that came full circle into his mind as he sat on a nostalgic park bench thinking about those in whom he loved.