2008 Oscar winning Japanese film Departures is a deeply moving but sometimes darkly comic look at Japanese
funeral ceremonies. Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a cellist, playing
with an Orchestra in Tokyo
until it is shut down due to poor ticket sales. Short of money he is forced to
move back to his remote mountain hometown and live in the house that his mother
left him when she died. Spotting an advert in the paper for ‘assisting
departures’, a job requiring no experience, Daigo goes for an interview. He is immediately
hired but soon finds out that the advert had a typo and the job is in fact to
prepare the dead for cremation. Daigo keeps his new job secret from his wife Mika
(Ryoko Hirosue) for fear that she will disprove and slowly learns the art of
the job from his quiet but dedicated boss Shoei (Tsutomo Yamazaki). Despite
being initially repulsed by the job, Daigo soon learns to respect the delicate
work carried out by himself and his boss but still has to convince his wife and
friend Yamashita (Tetta Sugimoto).
Departures is a
film that really messed with my emotions. I went from laughing out loud to
being close to tears before an emotional but satisfying ending. It is not surprising
that the film won so many awards upon its release and continues to be held in
such high regard.
