DEPARTURES (OKURIBITO)

Director: Yojiro Takita

Notable Actors: Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki

Awards: Japan Academy Awards Picture of the Year, Oscars Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Year: 2008

IMDB Score: 8.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

Photo-credit: IMDB

Departures is a drama film that reveals the strange but unique occupation of being a nokanshi - a Japanese ritual mortician. A young man, Daigo, returns back to his hometown after failing as a cellist when he accidentally stumbles across a nokanshi job when he mistakes the job advertisements wording of “assisting departures” for a travel agency. But, after taking up as a nokanshi, he is subjected to prejudice from people around him because of the social taboos in Japan that surround this job. This drama is able to capture both tears and laughter in 2 hours in an elegant way. It’s definitely a must see film from Japan.

aka Okuribito. Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and now finds himself without a job. Daigo...