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Academy Award Winner – Best Foreign Language Film
Winner of 10 Japan Academy Prize Awards
Winner of 10 Japan Academy Prize Awards
When his orchestra disbands, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) decides to start over and moves back to his small hometown. Desperate for work, he secretly takes a job as a “Nokanshi,” a funeral professional who prepares the deceased for burial and entrance into the next life. But while working with the families of the departed, Daigo embarks on a spiritual journey of his own as he finally experiences the joy and wonder of living.
BONUS FEATURE: Interview with director Yojiro Takita --
Product Description
When his orchestra disbands, Daigo Kobayashi moves back to his hometown and takes a job preparing corpses for burial. Too embarrassed to admit his new career to his family, Daigo keeps his profession a secret, until he’s faced with the death of someone close to him. Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Film.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
92 of 94 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A lengthy review is not required for this film. It was simple, profound and beautiful.
I consider myself to be a hard and somewhat jaded man, having survived war and traveling far in my life. This film awakened long-buried emotions.
I wept.
I consider myself to be a hard and somewhat jaded man, having survived war and traveling far in my life. This film awakened long-buried emotions.
I wept.
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
4 ˝ + Stars: Yojiro Takita 's Film Explores A Dark Premise With Amazing Sensibilties
November 27, 2009
Format:DVD
Japanese films have always had the remarkable reputation of turning the simplest premise into something so full of moving emotions and sensibilities. Yojiro Takita's multi-award winning film "DEPARTURES" (2008) is no different. There is a lot of excessive hype surrounding the film as it has almost nearly swept the Japanese Academy awards and has been awarded the Best Foreign film honor in the recent 2009 Oscars. No film can live up to the hype it has gotten, but I have to say it has earned each and every recognition; well deserving of the commercial success it had achieved in its native land.
Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a cello player whose dream is shattered when the orchestra he is playing with goes broke. Left with no choice but to sell his prized cello, Daigo together with his wife Mika (beauteous Ryoko Hirosue) returns to his hometown to live in his mother's old house. In need of a new job, Daigo responds to an ad in the local paper for a job in "Departures", thinking that it may be related to travel. But much to his surprise and dismay, Daigo discovers that he had applied for a profession as an `Encofineer'; a man who performs the delicate and traditional Japanese ritual of preparing the bodies of the deceased for the departure to the next life--it pays quite well, and without even thinking about it, he accepts without even giving his wife the details of his new job.
It is not often that we become privy to a film about the beautifying of corpses, director Takita takes on the grim subject matter and gives it a commercial charm and appeal. The direction is quite meticulous in exposing the world of the mortician as we become witnesses to the Japanese customs and traditions as to how they deal with their dead. Takita shows that the profession demands a certain amount of sensitivity as we see the different reactions of those left behind by the deceased; some are angry, some are funny, most are overwhelmed by grief and some are curiously joyful. In Daigo's profession, there are no religious affiliation; they do what they do to preserve the memory of the deceased, remembering them as the way they used to be and not who they are in the present.
It is a safe bet that a premise such as this may be unusual even for Japanese audiences and one of the film's key to success is the way it executes its grim subject matter through some doses of subtle humor in the film's first act. Writer Kundo Koyama and the direction by Takita meticulously eases the premise into the audience, as we were privy to Daigo and Sasaki's encounter with an extra "thing" to a supposedly female corpse. We see Masahiro Motoki's deadpan humor as he becomes repulsed by his first job, and just how he eventually becomes comfortable with his new career. Takita cleverly illustrates the short moments in the ceremony that our morticians get to know the deceased quite intimately.
After everything sinks in, then the emotional scenes begin to take hold, as we learn more of Daigo's childhood, his problems with his wife's disapproval of his new job and his anger towards his father who had left him while he was a child to run off with a younger woman. Now this is a commercial film and we know that eventually people close to Daigo will eventually come to respect what he does for a living, it is a little predictable but the journey with which the film gets to where it wishes to go is well-played that the screenplay becomes somewhat of a melancholy with a rhythm that just looks so beautiful. Mika (played by Ryoko Hirosue) is just so lovable as the diligent wife; she is just so full of love and trust that her character represents the goodness within the Japanese woman. It was touching to see Daigo perform a ceremony in his wife's presence and director Takita carefully manipulates the camera work to show pure emotion. Takita also injects some sequences that are beautiful to awaken the emotion (sort of serves as a vanguard) as we see Daigo playing the cello on a hill as if he was reaching out again to his dreams. The film also has beautiful cinematography and emotion-inducing score to match its otherwise simple but grim premise to keep the film running at a brisk pace.
The film has two significant scenes that seemed to induce quite a few sniffles, they were injected to give a twist that plays a significant part in Daigo's life. The first one does provoke a lot of emotion; it is full of tear-inducing sequences that can definitely touch its audience. However, it does feel a little overlong that the second twist may lose some of the narrative impact to the inexperienced viewer. The two twists do work in unison in the screenplay but some may argue that Takita was working too hard to induce emotion working one twist right after the other. I didn't find anything wrong with it and I thought it stuck to its sensibilities in reflecting just how life can sometimes throw you in for a curve.
The performances are quite good, Motoki (who won best actor in Japan) and Hirosue has some dynamic chemistry between them and the supporting characters made up of Sasaki, Yuriko (co-employee played by Kimiko Yo) and the woman (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) who runs a bath house plays their own significance in the script. I loved the way Yamazaki played Sasaki, it was like a cool and quiet boss as he always seemed to say "its fine."
Despite some flaws in the screenplay that the film came dangerously close in becoming too sentimental, "Departures" is easily one of the best commercial films to come out from Japan. The last act will leave an impression that no matter how we see ourselves and others, death sometimes is the one thing that can bring a family together. The film's biggest ace would have to come from its ability to induce the proper emotion at the right minute with such simplicity. Such critical acclaim will no doubt raise the film to unreasonable expectations, and while it may not change the course of Japanese cinema, it is not pretentious and never hides behind its beautiful visual style. The way to approach this film is with tempered expectations, so that the film can touch you in its journey that is both surprising and pleasurable.
Highly Recommended! [4 ˝ + Stars]
The release looks great and sounds great. The 1.78 ratio anamorphic widescreen video transfer is vivid and clean. It also has a 5.1 Dolby Digital Track Japanese language track. Subtitles are well timed and translated.
Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a cello player whose dream is shattered when the orchestra he is playing with goes broke. Left with no choice but to sell his prized cello, Daigo together with his wife Mika (beauteous Ryoko Hirosue) returns to his hometown to live in his mother's old house. In need of a new job, Daigo responds to an ad in the local paper for a job in "Departures", thinking that it may be related to travel. But much to his surprise and dismay, Daigo discovers that he had applied for a profession as an `Encofineer'; a man who performs the delicate and traditional Japanese ritual of preparing the bodies of the deceased for the departure to the next life--it pays quite well, and without even thinking about it, he accepts without even giving his wife the details of his new job.
It is not often that we become privy to a film about the beautifying of corpses, director Takita takes on the grim subject matter and gives it a commercial charm and appeal. The direction is quite meticulous in exposing the world of the mortician as we become witnesses to the Japanese customs and traditions as to how they deal with their dead. Takita shows that the profession demands a certain amount of sensitivity as we see the different reactions of those left behind by the deceased; some are angry, some are funny, most are overwhelmed by grief and some are curiously joyful. In Daigo's profession, there are no religious affiliation; they do what they do to preserve the memory of the deceased, remembering them as the way they used to be and not who they are in the present.
It is a safe bet that a premise such as this may be unusual even for Japanese audiences and one of the film's key to success is the way it executes its grim subject matter through some doses of subtle humor in the film's first act. Writer Kundo Koyama and the direction by Takita meticulously eases the premise into the audience, as we were privy to Daigo and Sasaki's encounter with an extra "thing" to a supposedly female corpse. We see Masahiro Motoki's deadpan humor as he becomes repulsed by his first job, and just how he eventually becomes comfortable with his new career. Takita cleverly illustrates the short moments in the ceremony that our morticians get to know the deceased quite intimately.
After everything sinks in, then the emotional scenes begin to take hold, as we learn more of Daigo's childhood, his problems with his wife's disapproval of his new job and his anger towards his father who had left him while he was a child to run off with a younger woman. Now this is a commercial film and we know that eventually people close to Daigo will eventually come to respect what he does for a living, it is a little predictable but the journey with which the film gets to where it wishes to go is well-played that the screenplay becomes somewhat of a melancholy with a rhythm that just looks so beautiful. Mika (played by Ryoko Hirosue) is just so lovable as the diligent wife; she is just so full of love and trust that her character represents the goodness within the Japanese woman. It was touching to see Daigo perform a ceremony in his wife's presence and director Takita carefully manipulates the camera work to show pure emotion. Takita also injects some sequences that are beautiful to awaken the emotion (sort of serves as a vanguard) as we see Daigo playing the cello on a hill as if he was reaching out again to his dreams. The film also has beautiful cinematography and emotion-inducing score to match its otherwise simple but grim premise to keep the film running at a brisk pace.
The film has two significant scenes that seemed to induce quite a few sniffles, they were injected to give a twist that plays a significant part in Daigo's life. The first one does provoke a lot of emotion; it is full of tear-inducing sequences that can definitely touch its audience. However, it does feel a little overlong that the second twist may lose some of the narrative impact to the inexperienced viewer. The two twists do work in unison in the screenplay but some may argue that Takita was working too hard to induce emotion working one twist right after the other. I didn't find anything wrong with it and I thought it stuck to its sensibilities in reflecting just how life can sometimes throw you in for a curve.
The performances are quite good, Motoki (who won best actor in Japan) and Hirosue has some dynamic chemistry between them and the supporting characters made up of Sasaki, Yuriko (co-employee played by Kimiko Yo) and the woman (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) who runs a bath house plays their own significance in the script. I loved the way Yamazaki played Sasaki, it was like a cool and quiet boss as he always seemed to say "its fine."
Despite some flaws in the screenplay that the film came dangerously close in becoming too sentimental, "Departures" is easily one of the best commercial films to come out from Japan. The last act will leave an impression that no matter how we see ourselves and others, death sometimes is the one thing that can bring a family together. The film's biggest ace would have to come from its ability to induce the proper emotion at the right minute with such simplicity. Such critical acclaim will no doubt raise the film to unreasonable expectations, and while it may not change the course of Japanese cinema, it is not pretentious and never hides behind its beautiful visual style. The way to approach this film is with tempered expectations, so that the film can touch you in its journey that is both surprising and pleasurable.
Highly Recommended! [4 ˝ + Stars]
The release looks great and sounds great. The 1.78 ratio anamorphic widescreen video transfer is vivid and clean. It also has a 5.1 Dolby Digital Track Japanese language track. Subtitles are well timed and translated.
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can you make a beautiful (and sometime funny) movie about death? Yes, and in Japanese too!
January 8, 2010
Format:DVD
Amazon has a limit of five stars in its rating system. If I could, this 2008 film - which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film - would get SIX. It is the perfect blend of story, visuals and music!
You probably know already that this is the story of a "downsized" cello player who finds a job as an encofineer ( the men who add the makeup and garments to deceased persons before the are cremated.) I hope you don't know more, as it will really destroy the surprises in store for you as this beautiful film unfolds. I won't even give it a long review for that reason. The music all revolves around the cello and the score (which features 13 cells playing together over the end titles) is reminiscent of what Michael Nyman composed for the film "The Piano". The cinematography is gorgeous. There is no blood and no violence. Death comes naturally here and there is beauty in the dressing.
The subtitles are in yellow below the image and easy to read. And the dialogue is never fast, so you don't need to rush to read them. The DVD contains an interesting 11-minute interview with the Director (which is translated verbally into English as well as in English subtitles.). Don't watch the interview until after you see the film. It will spoil some of enjoyment.
This is a film that is appropriate for older teens and may actually lead to some interesting discussions of the humanity of death. But don't let that dissuade you from seeing it. Its just a BEAUTIFUL loving musically rich film.
Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"
You probably know already that this is the story of a "downsized" cello player who finds a job as an encofineer ( the men who add the makeup and garments to deceased persons before the are cremated.) I hope you don't know more, as it will really destroy the surprises in store for you as this beautiful film unfolds. I won't even give it a long review for that reason. The music all revolves around the cello and the score (which features 13 cells playing together over the end titles) is reminiscent of what Michael Nyman composed for the film "The Piano". The cinematography is gorgeous. There is no blood and no violence. Death comes naturally here and there is beauty in the dressing.
The subtitles are in yellow below the image and easy to read. And the dialogue is never fast, so you don't need to rush to read them. The DVD contains an interesting 11-minute interview with the Director (which is translated verbally into English as well as in English subtitles.). Don't watch the interview until after you see the film. It will spoil some of enjoyment.
This is a film that is appropriate for older teens and may actually lead to some interesting discussions of the humanity of death. But don't let that dissuade you from seeing it. Its just a BEAUTIFUL loving musically rich film.
Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding Movie!
I cannot tell you how much my husband and I enjoyed this movie. You will not be disappointed. Very well written and given you a taste of the culture and customs. Brilliant! Read more
Published 5 days ago by Ann E. Parrish
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and moving
Saw this while on retreat last year and decided to purchase it. Despite the subject, I found the scenes of the preparation of the bodies absolutely fascinating and beautifully... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Anthony Barry
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get your hanky ready.
Yeah, I cried a little. Twice. The actors are so good at portraying emotion, you'd have to made of stone not to leak a little bit. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Chester Dow III
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gentle film, moving insights into Japanese end of life culture
This is a quietly affecting film, full of surprises that will make the viewer smile. The young cellist winds up in a job he never would have considered, preparing bodies for... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Messenger
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must Watch
This is a must see movie. I cried and laughed, I don't usually hang on to movies to watch over, but this one is definately a keeper. Well done.
Published 26 days ago by NanDo
5.0 out of 5 stars
A surprising great film
This film really sneaks up on you, in a good way! As the story developed, I think I was just as surprised as its main character. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Teachwell
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Dispostion of Death
Absolutely one of my top ten movies of my lifetime. Individuals that deal with the treatment of the dead are too often stigmatized. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Leslie
5.0 out of 5 stars
The training video scene is priceless
Other than the super sappy scene depicted on the cover of the DVD, the film is beautiful. All things death related are taboo in Japan, so it's wonderful to see a film depict the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Pandora828
5.0 out of 5 stars
A quiet and engaging film
I don't remember how I stumbled across this film, but the first time I watched it I was extremely impressed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by too_old_to_be_so_indie
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorite movies
This is the only movie with subtitles that I have enjoyed. I was hooked from the beginning of the movie. It is funny, romantic, sad, serious, educational and more.
Published 3 months ago by Marcella J. Kowalewski
