Customer Reviews

Departures

5 star:		(108)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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 ½ + 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.

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"

I don't know what more I can say about this stunning film that hasn't been said. It was the surprise winner of the '08 Oscar for Foreign Language Film, so I was compelled to rent it. Best move I've made. After research, this film won every Japanese Academy Award, as well as many other Asian film awards. This is a film about life, and the love story adds to the beauty of the goings on. Indeed, death is part of life, and I would wish I'd be put to rest in as dignified a procedural as depicted here. Despite the morbid suggestion, there is lots of humor to alleviate the serious tone, and it also lets one know, rather encourages one, to let those you love to KNOW it before it's too late. I adored this film for it's simplicity, truth and absolute honesty. I was quite blown away.Acting is impeccable, and direction is perfect. There's a sweetness that makes you want to watch it again. DVD extras are fine. I recommend this film to all, without reservation.

I LOVED the movie! Saw it twice in the theater.
I bought the DVD from Amazon. This DVD has NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES!!!
Still, it is a beautiful movie. Hopefully I will be able to exchange it.
We'll see how customer service works here.............

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 face 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 ½ + Stars]

The 2-disc region-3 release looks great and sounds great. The 1.78 ratio anamorphic widescreen video transfer is vivid and clean. It also has a 5.1 DTS Japanese language track. Subtitles are well timed and translated. I am unsure of what is being sold in amazon however.

I cannot believe I discovered this wonderful film so late!!! So many people have written so many good things about this movie. To me, this movie is about forgiveness and letting go!!! If everyone watch this movie, the world will be a better place. Thanks for making such an amazing film!!!

I don't have words to do justice to this movie, so I'll keep it short.

Simply put, this is the most tender movie I've ever seen. That's all the more impressive when one considers that the overt subject matter is death. In showing great care for the bodies of those who have passed, we learn about honoring them and the lives they lived. This leads us directly to the complementary theme of the movie, which is to appreciate life while we have it, savoring our own lives and not taking for granted those who we are meant to love deeply.

This movie is profoundly conceived, exquisitely crafted, and masterfully embodied by its actors. Needless to say, I highly recommend it, but be prepared to shed tears at the end as all the strands are seamlessly drawn together.

NOT because it's of Japanese origin---admittedly, I'm biased---but I can't recommend too highly Departures (Okuribito), the Academy Award-winning foreign language film of a couple of years ago. The star, Masahiro Motoki (ex-teen idol-turned-actor), comes from the world of Japanese boy bands---Johnny's Boys ---and the director, Yojiro Takita, is out of Japanese soft porn "adult" films (think Radley Metzger). Talk about changing horses in mid-stream!

Departure's arc from conception to realization took fifteen years, according to director Takita in an interview that comes with the DVD of the film. And, he informs, it was totally a group effort, i.e., improv, commitment, story contributions (the germ of the idea for film was Mokoki's), etc. I was amused by it, and, alternately, shed a tear or three as well. As the saying goes. . ."I laughed. I cried. I loved every minute of it." As someone else recently wrote within these pages, "Departures is surely the gentlest, sweetest movie about death that you will ever see."

I see I am the 16th person to review this wonderful movie and the 15th to give it five stars. That says something surely.

The protagonist, a young married Japanese man who makes his living playing the cello in an orchestra, returns from Tokyo to his home town in the mountains after his ensemble goes bust. There, desperate for work, he finds employment as a man who "encoffins" dead people.

We learn there is a a whole ritual for the treatment and preparation of the body after death. It is done with such quiet dignity and grace that it comforts the mourners and does full justice to the human worth of the deceased.

There is a quietness and strength about this movie which looks death in the eye without flinching and yet celebrates life. The human interplay of the various characters is first-rate and the film, despite its subject matter, is never depressing.

I found a lot in common although there are many differences too between the Japanese and Jewish rituals of caring for the dead. Both respect the body and person of the deceased and try to give death its due while still focusing on the fact that life must go on.