Departures

Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Kimiko Yo
Directed by: Yojiro Takita
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
2008

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A cellist (Masahiro Motoki) reluctantly takes a job preparing bodies for funerals.

Review:

Tim: Departures, the Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Film, is a beautiful Japanese film about life, death, and family. It's impressive how this quiet movie touches on many of the most quintessential of human experiences. I was a big fan of the film and glad for its award win.

The movie starts out with our protagonist cellist losing his job as his orchestra is disbanded. He's spent his life working on this art and without that job, he begins to drift. He and his wife move back to his family home and searching the wanted ads, he stumbles across one that seems intriguing. He shows up, gets the job, and then discovers it's preparing bodies for funeral services. All this set up is actually brilliant. It introduces music to the story, which is an important theme. The movement of the main character also forces him to confront his past (and his future) by sending him home. This spurs thoughts about his family, most notably, his absent father. The job he takes forces him to confront his own mortality, his relationship to others, and most importantly, how he sees himself. It's all brilliantly constructed to create tension and drama with the main character.

The movie does a good job of exploring different rituals. We see the rituals Daigo goes through to play the cello. We see the rituals of his job, preparing bodies for funeral services. The film spends a lot of time on how the bodies are prepared, and it's actually quite fascinating to watch. This ritual is very different to how it's approached in the United States and I loved seeing this very different cultural practice. The movie holds our attention.

Masahiro Motoki is good in the lead role. He's relatable and likable and overall, gives a strong performance. There were times when it felt like his acting was a bit forced. He's funny and has good comedic timing, but many of those scenes had him push too far, almost bordering on pantomime. Tsutomu Yamazaki was fantastic. His supporting performance is stunningly good- he's one of the absolute best parts of the film. His character is unique and eccentric, but experienced and a true professional. He serves as a father figure to Daigo and he has this wonderful ability to connect with the audience. It's a truly great performance. I know actors in foreign films don't often get nominated in acting categories, but he should have received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He's that good here. Hirosue Ryoko was effective as Motoki's wife. They had an easy chemistry together that made you believe their relationship. I understand she's a singer first and actress second, but she worked well here. Kimiko Yo was so important to this film. She has a small role and never really gets thrust into the limelight, but she works wonders on the edges of our focus. She added more to the film than you would expect given her screen time. The cast as a whole here was great.

I really enjoyed the story and the characters of Departures. That scene of Daigo playing the cello outside, against the backdrop of the mountains is beautiful and weird and memorable. This is a powerful movie that is interesting and enjoyable to watch. It might not quite generate the emotional impact needed for it to be a great movie, but it gets awfully close. This is a film I'm so happy I tracked down- it's worth the effort to see.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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