ironhorse_iv Review of Departures

Departures (2008)

Before you departed from this earth, go see this movie! It's very interesting and remarkable.

[8/10 · 7 January 2016]

It's very surprising to see a movie about the taboo practice of encoffinment, become so university praise by critics. You would think, this movie would, fall under the radar of American & Japanese society, because of the dark subject matter; however, this movie became one of the highest-grossing domestic Japanese films of that year. It was even, a bigger hit international abroad; winning many awards from critics like the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film of 2009. However, for me, I saw it as a one-time watch. A good movie worth checking out, but not worth revisiting, time after time, again. Loosely based on 'Coffinman', a memoir by Shinmon Aoki, and originally titled "Okuribito" means "the sending away"; Departures follows the story of a young man, Kobayashi Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) who returns to his hometown after a failed career as a cellist and stumbles across work as a nōkanshi—a traditional Japanese ritual mortician. He is subjected to prejudice from those around him, including from his family and friends, because of strong social taboos against people who deal with death. Eventually he must try to earn their respect and learns the importance of interpersonal connections through the beauty and dignity of his work. Can Kobayashi Daigo achieve that or will he be disconnect from his family & friends for the rest of his life? Watch the movie to find out, if you want to! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, this movie by director Takita Yojiro was very informative to how Japanese culture prepare their dead for the afterlife. This is pretty much, the main appeal of the film for me. To see, what steps, it takes for them to prepare their dead is very interesting; and I'm not known for having a morbid curiosity for such things. You really do learn, a lot about Japanese culture, by watching this. However, besides those, the movie doesn't have much, going for itself. Yes, the classical cello music by composer Joe Hisaishi was indeed beautiful to hear and some of the film is very well-shot, but as a main stream appeal; it doesn't really have some. It's morbid curiosity at its best. I really don't know, if American audiences would revisited this film, time after time, again like me. After all, the film moves in a somewhat slow, heavy-handed, and predictable pace. In my opinion, the conventional simple story is a little too-stretch out. The result of this, cause the movie to falls into a pit full of pointless filler scenes in the second act. Even, the third act, break up is very clichés. You can see it, coming from a mile away. However, most of the changes from the novel, in the climax for the film, was well-written and perform. I love the ending with the message stone. It was somewhat redeeming and heart-warming. As much, as it's sounding like, I didn't like the movie, I honestly did love it. The actors in the film are all, well-played. One thing, I'm pretty glad, the movie has, is English subtitles then English dubbing, because I would hate to see the movie suffer from bad lip sync. The subtitles really help a lot, because some of these rituals can seem somewhat confusing. After all, there are not many people that eat live squids, go to bath houses and drink Japanese tea in rituals ceremony, here in the States. It was nice to try to understand, such practices. I also kinda glad, the movie had some lighten moments. A good example is when Kobayashi and his boss, Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki) are cleaning a body that they thought was a woman, but they find out, it's a man. However, one thing, worth noticing, about Japanese humor is how that joke and many after that, doesn't have that much of a punch-line, because the film tries too hard to be respectful. I think, this film would work, better, if they allow more leeway in how they were able to portray the dead. Maybe there was a little too much calming, hypnotic grace with this PG-13 film. It mask people's fears, too much that humor and drama can't really shine through. I think this is why, the movie kinda suffers, when it comes to rewatch value. Maybe, it could had work better, as an R-Rated film, but that's just a maybe. Anyways; Overall: Departures is alright movie. Somewhat overpraise, but still a great film worth checking out. After all, it's nice to see films like this, reverse prejudice against a once taboo subject.