Thursday, December 01, 2005

Trying to remember

Once upon a time I saw a Japanese movie - I think it was called Afterlife - which really made an impression on me.

In the world this movie portrays, when you die you spend a few days in some kind of in-between place before you go on to Heaven. Whilst at this in-between place, you are expected to decide upon the one favourite memory of your life on Earth; this is the only memory you can take with you into the afterlife.

So there is this one middle-aged guy who can't think of a single thing. His life has been so boring that for a whole week he can't come up with anything memorable. So the staff lend him a record of his entire life (on videotape, actually), so he can watch the whole boring affair in the hope of finding a memory worth preserving for eternity.

This is where I was inspired. I didn't want to be like that guy, and have a boring life. I also didn't want to be unable to remember all the wonderful moments that I've experienced in my life so far.

Unfortunately my memory is so bad that people have actually pointed that out to me, so I decided henceforth to record worthy moments in a journal.

I kept this up for about six months before I got slack. However, now that I have a blog I can record almost everything going on in my life (except for the really, y'know, personal stuff). When I die and go to limbo-land, I can just read my blog to find my most-favoured moment (at least, as long as it happened no more than about 2 years ago).

Oh, and what happened to Mr Boring? He watched all those tapes and came across a scene in which he and his wife are sitting on a park bench, contemplating the possibility of going to see a movie. Nothing exciting had happened, but it was just an intimate moment between the two of them. And this is what he took with him.

7 comments:

Jason Pollock said...

Sitting on a park bench with the woman you love. There is no better memory ever.

When I read that line, I instantly saw the picture in my head, and said, "Yep, that would be an awesome memory to take with you." There's so much conveyed with it: Giving love, receiving love, peace, and happiness.

And they say he did nothing with his life. I'd say, he got the important things right.

Awesome.

Avery's mom said...

doesnt your whole life flash before your eyes right before you kick the bucket? you wont have to look anything up in your journal, it'll be fresh in your memory

darth said...

that is one of my favorite movies ever. i mean, EVER. his other movies are good too (Nobody Knows is heartwrenching) but Afterlife is incredible.

Violet said...

jason: yeah it was a lovely scene when you realised that this was his moment of choice.

avery's mom: 1. I don't know 'cos I've never died, and 2. I wouldn't want to trust my memory with the job.

darth: really? I don't know if I've ever met or talked to anyone else who's seen the movie. I don't even know who "he" is.

darth said...

violet! :lol: the director of After life, Koreeda Hirokazu..he directed a movie called Nobody Knows, which is about 4 kids abandoned in tokyo by their mom, and maborosi, which is a sad tale about a woman putting her life back together.

I think I blogged about After Life a while back..and I actually kinda identified with the young guy who didn't WANT to choose, and ended up working there. I loved that movie so much :)

Violet said...

thanks, darth - I'll look up those movies next time I'm at the video shop. I wonder what it meant that that guy didn't want to choose though?

glomgold said...

That sounds like an interesting movie; I'll have to look for it. Sometimes these Japanese films are all over the place.
I think I've got enough memories to choose from but if I wound up digging through my blog, I will be telling one awful joke for eternity.