Departures - Session Times And Movie Reviews

Sunday, 1 August 2.44pm

Departures

Movie Info

Add Review

Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and who is suddenly left without a job. Spotting a Help Wanted ad featuring the word "departures," he is excited about the prospect of trying a new career in the travel industry. Daigo is hired on the spot, only later learning exactly what the job entails: the ceremonial "encoffination" of corpses prior to cremation. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death.

Rated:	[ M ]
Cinema release:	15 Oct 2009
Director:	Yojiro Takita
Running time:	130 mins
Stars:	Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue
Links:	IMDb Rotten Tomatoes

What we say

Elegant and a bit obscure

Paul Stock, MovieFix
3 star rating

"Departures", winner of the 2009 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is every bit as elegant and obscure as you'd imagine a Japanese drama with a hint of black comedy to be. It also beautifully depicts an unemployed cellist's reluctant apprenticeship into performing the rite of encoffinment (preparing a corpse for cremation or burial).

After losing his job in a Tokyo-based symphony orchestra, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) returns north with his wife to the small town he grew up in. He's also returned his 18 million yen ($220,000) cello, the source of a rather extravagant debt he'd somehow shamefully kept secret from his wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue).

In being compelled to return home, Daigo feels he's something of a failure. "I should have realised the limits of my talent," he laments. It's his disappointment in himself that leads him to accept a job he quickly becomes ashamed of, and to hide the nature of his work from his wife.

Searching the local newspaper for work, he spots an ad for a "departures" agent: "no experience necessary". Fancying a career for himself in the travel industry, Daigo visits the offices of the advertiser, forces himself to ignore the coffins propped up against the wall and accepts the well-paying job without really understanding what's involved.

Figuring out exactly what's involved is of course the source of much of the humour, as well as the artistry of "Departures". The learning process represents Daigo's chance at redemption, which comes through his acceptance of his new profession as well as his the past, which he learns you can never properly escape, or cremate.

The soundtrack is lavish and the cello-playing montages are surprisingly tolerable. The film's flaw is that it runs a bit long and drags at times, but even that seems entirely in keeping with the elegant rituals the film respectfully documents. Director Yojiro Takita's "Departures" won't have you rolling in the aisles like "Death at a Funeral", but the film does have a lovely, subtle black humour punctuating the drama.

Find more info on Departures with Bing Search

What you say

Exceptional!

Add a review

What you say

Exceptional!

Beautiful drama (with some lovely comic moments) that finally gets a release in Australian cinemas. I saw this at the Melbourne Japanese Film Festival in 2008, and it was certainly the highlight of the festival. After winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in February this year, I thought DEPARTURES would have been quickly released in Australia, but alas, we've had to wait quite a while. Directed with wonderful restraint and intelligence by veteran director Yojiro Takita (WHEN THE LAST SWORD IS DRAWN / ASHURA), who masterfully moves between drama and comedy, this a delicate and thoughtful film made for adult audiences. Combined with excellent performances and first-rate production values, DEPARTURES proves to be one of the best films of the year, and definitely deserved its Oscar glory.

Aaron
Melbourne, VIC
8 Oct 2009