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While the action fares slightly better than character development; this absorbing blockbuster deserves to be a hit.

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Full of clunky CGI and uninspired performances, this film is completely devoid of humour and heart.

Going The Distance

While occasionally opting for cheap laughs, this romantic comedy is entertaining, warm and feels surprisingly rooted in real life.

The Kids Are All Right

Driven by excellent performances, this entertaining film provides a fresh view of modern family life.

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Departures (Film)

by James Fletcher | October 13, 2009 11:06 | Edited October 13, 2009 11:07

Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner, this is quirky, quietly moving and often comedic journey of one man discovering himself.

Winner of the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival's top prize and 2009 Academy Awards winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures comes with a certain pedigree and a fair amount of expectation. Taking almost ten years to reach the screen, indie director Yojiro Takita, known predominantly for his black comedies, has managed to deliver a compelling, yet almost gentle, character study of an unlikely "nokanshi", namely a professional who prepares the recently deceased for their funerals.

 

Takita's protagonist is Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), an out-of-work cellist forced to return to his rural hometown when his Tokyo-based orchestra disbands. Trying to find a way to support his adoring wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue), Kobayashi answers an ad for what he believes is a job with a travel agent. After the initial interview with his new boss (played with deadpan brilliance by Tsutomu Yamazaki), Daigo realises with shock that the only travelling that his clients will be doing is to the afterlife. Tempted by the money, Kobayashi accepts the job and soon discovers an inner peace working and talking with the dead. When Mika discovers her husband's new vocation, however, she's mortified at the social implications of being married to a nokanshi, and demands that he leave the profession.

 

Inspired by the memoirs of Shinmon Aoki, himself a mortician, Departures is a fascinating look inside Japan's funeral industry; it resonates with wildly comedic moments (such as Kobayashi's discovery of a penis on a female corpse) and a rare warmth that can only be described as heartbreakingly honest.

 

Yojiro Takita has crafted a rich, memorable and thoroughly unconventional film that celebrates finding your own particular place in a world full of surprising opportunities.