Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel age... Read allSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 40 wins & 12 nominations total
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMasahiro Motoki also learned how to play a cello for the earlier parts of the film.
- GoofsThe main protagonist (Masahiro Motoki) has his cheek cut during the filming scene. This is covered in subsequent scene. In the next scene both the covering and the scar of the cut is gone.
- Quotes
Mika Kobayashi: What are you doing?
Daigo Kobayashi: This one. Here.
Mika Kobayashi: What?
Daigo Kobayashi: A stone letter.
Mika Kobayashi: Stone letter?
Daigo Kobayashi: Long ago, before writing, you'd send someone a stone that suited the way you were feeling. From its weight and touch, they'd know how you felt. From a smooth stone they might get that you were happy, or from a rough one that you were worried about them.
Mika Kobayashi: Thank you.
Daigo Kobayashi: What did you feel?
Mika Kobayashi: Not telling. That's a lovely story. Who told you?
Daigo Kobayashi: My dad.
Mika Kobayashi: You mean... that big rock?
Daigo Kobayashi: Yep. I got it from him.
Mika Kobayashi: I didn't know that.
Daigo Kobayashi: He said he'd send me one every year, but that's all I ever got. That jerk!
- SoundtracksSymphony No. 9 in D minor Op. 125 'Choral' IV. Presto, Allegro assai
Written by Ludwig van Beethoven
As outlined in Kundo Koyama's somewhat methodical screenplay, the story focuses on the challenge Daigo faces in finding one's place in life, no matter how dubious it may seem to others. Daigo, bereft of his passion, answers a job ad involving "departures", which leads him to believe the company is a travel agency. However, he quickly realizes the two-person operation is actually about preparing bodies for burial, ritually cleansing and cloaking them while the mourners watch. Initially aghast, he is convinced by the taciturn owner Mr. Sasaki that he is ideal for the role of assistant and offers him the job. He has to fight his own prejudices as well as others about the supposed unseemliness of his profession, including Mika, who finds out her husband's new profession and pronounces him unclean. Daigo, however, realizes he has found his passion in the pre-burial ceremony, and Sasaki teaches him the ropes in a way that recalls Juzo Itami's beloved 1985 comedy, "Tampopo".
Former boy-band singer Masahiro Motoki is genuinely affecting as Daigo, while Ryoko Hirosue brings a surprising layer of complexity to the perennially sunny Mika. The deadpan Tsutomu Yamazaki makes Sasaki the film's key gravitational element with a minimum of effort, while Kimiko Yo shows an offbeat quality as his office manager Yuriko. The cinematography by Takeshi Hamada is top-notch with some memorable images offered along the way (like Daigo playing his cello on a hilltop), and Joe Hisaishi's ("Kikujiro") music score allows dramatic sweep without getting too epic. On the downside, the film runs too long at 130 minutes, and there are moments when the comedy is played too broadly and the sentiment laid on too thick. Still, the movie shows Japanese cinema still exudes a unique identity, and there is global vitality still in that country's film industry. A brief interview with Takita is the major bonus on the 2010 DVD.
- EUyeshima
- Mar 13, 2010
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,498,210
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $74,945
- May 31, 2009
- Gross worldwide
- $74,236,951
- Runtime2 hours 10 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1