Reviewed by Louise Robina Happé
Stars Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue & Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo, Takashi Sasano, Mitsuyo Hoshino, Tarô Ishida, Hiroyuki Kishi, Yukimi Koyanagi
Written by Kundo Koyama
Certification UK 12A | US PG-13
Runtime 130 minutes
Directed by Yojiro Takita
This poignant film has become internationally acclaimed since it won the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award early this year. Director Yojiro Takita’s touching story based on an unconventional idea triumphed over many, and quite rightly so.
When Daigo Kobayashi’s (Motoki) dreams of being a professional cellist in Tokyo are dashed, he returns to his small suburban hometown in Yamagata with his wife Mika (Hirosue) in the hopes of finding a normal, steady job and starting afresh. Not long after they arrive, Daigo finds an ad in the paper offering great money in the ‘departures’ industry and immediately goes to the interview with high hopes. But after meeting Sasaki (Yamazaki), the company owner who offers him the job no-questions-asked, Daigo’s hopes for a ‘normal’ job diminish and he learns that he has been hired as an encoffiner’s assistant, which involves ceremonially preparing corpses for cremation. With no other job prospects, Daigo reluctantly accepts the position, but ashamedly keeps the details of his new career from his wife, revealing only that his work involves ceremonies. But as Daigo encounters each body, along with their grieving families, he begins to appreciate the beauty of the encoffiner’s workmanship and develops a new understanding of the relationship between life and death.
Takita’s adept blend of comedy and drama in this tale of Japan’s oldest tradition is both enchanting and endearing as we witness various families that have been touched with death – from an elderly grandmother to a cross-dressing boy – and the way in which encoffiners act almost as a medium between the departed and their loved ones. With moving performances from both Motoki and Yamazaki, we, as viewers, journey with Daigo as his perception of an encoffiner changes from being that of the greatest taboo to being that of a humble service; and as grieving children bid a last farewell to their parents, and vice versa, the importance of this ritual becomes most prevalent, especially to those left behind.
Though slightly dragging in the end and with an unconvincing performance by Hirosue (most frustrating opposite a wonderful Motoki), Departures offers a touching grace as the delicacy of a misunderstood profession unfolds; and with an honest and moving sentimentality, the film offers a refreshing, and at times comical, view of the cycle of life and death.
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SECOND OPINION | Lizzie Husher **** Ten months on from its surprise Best Foreign Language Oscar win, Departures opens to the UK to further demonstrate its worth to any doubters. And while this gentle Japanese drama, directed by former soft-core porn auteur Yojiro Takita, has its flaws there is no denying it’s a sincere and tender piece of filmmaking. The film follows Daigo (Motoki), a young man living in Tokyo, as his hopes for a musical career are dashed when the orchestra in which he plays cello is disbanded. He decides to return, with his wife (Hirosue), to live in the quiet town of his birth, and whilst searching for work comes across an ad for a job in ‘departures’. Thinking it’s for a travel firm Daigo applies, and despite initial uncertainty, soon comes to find that the job of ritually preparing bodies for cremation gives him a new zest for life.
Like the characters in the film, the audience too must confront and accept the frightening - and often overlooked - subject of death, as we witness repeatedly the ceremonial washing, dressing and beautifying of dead bodies. The first scene presents us straight away with the odd and pretty morbid Buddhist tradition, but through Takita’s deft ability to keep the tone of the film hopeful despite its content, we’re inclined to come out of the film with an understanding and even admiration for the hands-on funereal approach. Like any successful naturalistic tale of life’s conflicts the whole spectrum of emotions is here, and just as easy as it is to cry big fat tears, it is to laugh out loud. The acting is faultless; Motoki’s portrayal of a young man at crossroads is impressive, particularly considering he started his career as a boy band member, whilst Yamazaki is superb as the worldly-wise and unshakable teacher and father figure. The script is also lovely but, as always with a subtitled drama as subtle as this, it’s a concern that dialogue aspects may be lost in translation.
The plot direction is admittedly a little predictable, but does this significantly impair the enjoyment? Not really. This is not a movie hinged on plot cause and effect, it’s a human story in which character interaction, and abstract interpretation are more vital to audience appreciation than the basic skeletal narrative. What does appear to hinder the film though is the occasional over-wringing of sentimentality. A few of the scenes would have been far more poignant had they been shortened by several minutes. The scene involving Daigo’s father may initially make you cry but after the first fifteen minutes will have you glancing at your watch. To fully reap the benefits of this picture it’s probably best to forget the furore that surrounds its academy award win, it can then be appreciated as the warm and delicately profound film that it is.