The Days After
(Nochi no hi)

The Days After is a commissioned work – an episode for a mini-series on Japanese television – and Kore-eda’s only foray into the traditional ghost story genre. A troubling and paradoxical foray, for this cinema populated by dead people who, precisely, never return. Here, the ghost is a child and his presence in the home of a grieving couple is more of a visit than an apparition. Yet, Kore-eda is careful to remain on the edge of the fantastic, since the young visitor’s elusive nature is above all the filmmaker’s way of again questioning – as he does consistently throughout his work – our irresistible and tragic need for consolation. Aisha Rahim