Academy Award 2009: Best Foreign Film. In this beautifully performed character study an unemployed cellist finds fulfilment and a depth of human connection in the most unlikely profession.
Departures' belief in love and forgiveness is lyrical, and hauntingly moving.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Departures 2008
Okuribito
Departures, winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Film, is a beautifully performed character study of a man who finds fulfilment and a depth of human connection in the most unlikely profession. Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant. Little by little he warms to his new profession, endowing the elaborate funeral ceremonies with grace and humanity. Director Takita, whose origins are in much more commercially robust territory, brings good humour to the social awkwardness his protagonist encounters and to his struggle to win round his mortified wife. Motoki Masahiro’s delicately shaded entrancement in the lead role enacts the rituals of farewell with an eloquence that crosses cultures. — BG