Departures

Departures

Departures, a film truly deserving of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is a film so heartfelt and emotional that for those who watch it it is impossible to ignore it. The film centers around an aspiring Japanese cellist named Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) who suddenly loses his dream job after the orchestra he plays for is disbanded due to financial bankruptcy. Without anywhere else to go, he returns with his wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue), to his hometown of Sakata, Yamagata, Japan where his mother left him her home after she passed away a few years earlier. While looking in the Classifieds section of the local newspaper he spots an ad for a job with "high-pay" and "short hours" at a company called The NK Agency, which deals with the "departures." Upon going to the company, he quickly realizes that what he had thought to be some sort of travel agency is actually a company dedicated to the encoffinment of dead people. Encoffinment can be best described, in this context, as the elaborate Japanese ritual for the preparation of the deceased to ascend into heaven and/or the after-life. Another main character is introduced at this point, Shōei Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki), who is the president/owner of the NK Agency. Without giving away any more, the film then follows Daigo and Shōei as Daigo learns and perfects and perfects the art of Encoffinment. This film is much more than that though, it deals with many heavy themes with a kind of grace and elegance seen in few movies today. The main points that make this possible are the amazing cinematography used in this film and the incredible performances put on by all the actors in the film.

Beginning with the cinematography of the film, it is quite simply amazing yet simple. There are no fancy camera tricks or special effects to speak of; instead, what makes the cinematography stand is the immense meaning that each shot takes. Each shot seems to have meaning to it, rather than shooting something just to tell the story. The image of Daigo playing his Cello on the small hill while scenes of nature are interspersed to create a beautiful montage that shows the thin line between life and death and the graceful transition from life to death that all living things undergo. Unlike many films that simply "tell the story", Departures still tells it, but it in a way that stands out as incredibly innovative and unique. The scenes of the encoffinment ceremonies become a very prominent and exquisite part of the film simply because of the age-old traditions and values that it carries with it. Even in spite of the fact that they're dead bodies being prepared for cremation or burial, the ceremony manages the become a thing of joy and remembrance rather than grief and sorrow. It comes across as a time to remember the dead for the great people they were and the wonderful lives that they lead.

Without the high-level of acting in this film, all of the cinematography would have been meaningless. The level of emotion that the actors managed to reach is something that is highly commendable and admirable. The actors seemed to take their roles so seriously that at times the characters on screen began to look like real people, instead of a movie. Their performances were so powerful that is was impossible not to be impressed. Matoki for example brings a performance to the film that is quite literally one of the best I've ever seen; mainly because he seems to have taken his character to heart and found a real connection between his personal experiences and the character's. All of the supporting actors as well manage to put on an award-worthy performance. From Mika (his wife) to Shōei (the president of the company), all of the actors are astonishing in there particular roles, and none of the actors just go through the motions in order to earn a paycheck.

All of these details help explain the Academy Award that this film received, and in my opinion certainly deserved. This is a must-see film, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. In layman's terms, just go see the damn thing.

The Verdict: 9.5/10-Almost Perfect (on scale from 1 being the worst and 10 being the best)