In the undefined near future, the dead can be brought back thanks to software that can be purchased in advance by families to keep their beloved ones “alive.” Those who are about to die need to agree with the project ironically called Wonderland, and barely anyone says no to it. Who wants to be dead for real? The trick with life after death is that the candidates have to stay in one restricted space of their choice, in a parallel universe designed specifically for them. But also, if a family member who made the arrangements with the company passes, the second life gets deactivated and stored until someone else requests that the same person continues ‘living’ in Wonderland. This, of course, comes with a certain price, and since most of the dead have no idea that they are physically no more, they have their own special needs and wishes. The trick is that every clothing item and even motorbikes and cars have to be paid for no matter how ridiculous that might sound. So, in real life, there are those ready to work extra shifts or two jobs to fulfill the wishes of the deceased.
Click on the image below to follow our Tribute to Netflix
Multiple award-winning director Kim Tae-yong and Sharon S. Park team up to tell this complicated story of humankind’s attempt to fool death and bend the laws of nature by playing God and turning the concept into a profitable business.
Let’s hope that things invented in the script of this movie won’t appear on the list of technologies predicted in science fiction somewhere in the future. It sounds pretty far-fetched to expect a kind of continued communication with the deceased who can use screens and smartphones to speak and show us their environment as they see it, and call the other ‘ghosts’ and co-exist with people in coma. I wish to believe that our dearest won’t turn into AI-generated images of themselves but with the same determination to dictate our lives. We’ll have to wait and see what’s the next craziest thing we’ll be served by big tech companies.
“Wonderland” consists of different overlapping stories, uneven in quality and execution. It opens with the confession of Bai Li (Tang Wei), a young mother who has recently passed, leaving behind her seven-year-old daughter to live with her grandmother. The little girl thinks that her mother is away on a long work trip as an archeologist because they speak to each other on the phone every single night. This particular story is the most problematic because it is overloaded with unnecessary content. There is, for instance, a mysterious male character Sung-joon (Gong Yoo) who materializes next to Mai-Li every time she gets the blues. He seems to be a kind of virtual stalker who fell in love with the dead woman. His character is bizarre and out of place.
Three different experiences with the AI afterlife are presented, but the most interesting part of the narrative concerns two Wonderland employees who are in direct contact with the dying and their families: Hae Ri (Jung Yu-mi) and Jung-woo. It’s a chilling, but fascinating profession.
This is not a film that sci-fi lovers will find thrilling. Its biggest flaws are the overload of details and characters and the not-so-convincing emotional side of the story.
