I saw Departures at the State Theater in Traverse City, Michigan last night. The movie is a Japanese film by Yōjirō Takita that won the 2008 Best Foreign Picture Academy Award.
The movie is about a cellist, Daigo, who, because of the dissolution of his orchestra, is forced to move from Tokyo to a house his mother left him in rural Japan. He unknowingly becomes a mortician and his life becomes complicated from there.
There were a couple things I loved about this movie.
- Diago’s wife, Mika – Ryoko Hirosue is the actress who played Mika. I thought she did a wonderful job opposing Diago’s emotions throughout the movie. She’s sweet and understanding in the beginning of the movie, but lacks a true sense of her husband. By the end of the movie they a more linear understanding of each other.
- The construction of the movie – As my sister pointed out, music is used sparingly. In the few instances that it is employed, it is very powerful. This seemed appropriate to me, considering much of the movie is about death, a topic that is often uncomfortable to focus on for any length of time. The stillness of life allowed the celebration of death to resonate – scenes of the family huddled over their deceased, the family’s many thanks to Diago for making the deceased beautiful, and the muted emotions of Diago, who finds himself through comforting the families. The process is beautiful, open and, eventually, accepted.
I recommend the movie. It is well acted, interesting, and thought provoking.