Departures

This film is © by Regent Films, 2009

Starring:

Masahiro Motoki as Daigo Kobayashi
Tsutomu Yamazaki as Sasaki
Ryoko Hirosue as Mika Kobayashi
Takashi Sasano as Shokichi Hirata
Kimiko Yo as Yuriko Kobayashi

Directed by : Yojiro Takita

RATING:

Japanese with subtitles

Departures is a tale of a young man whose dream career comes to an end and finds himself struggling with what direction to take in life. Daigo is young and is married as the weight of the world seems to fall on his shoulders. He decides to leave Tokyo and move back to his home town where his deceased mother had left him a house. His wife is very supportive and goes along with the plan. Yet finding work in a small town proves not to be easy and Daigo ends up mistakenly interviewing to be an undertaker. The job pays well as it is something most people don't want to do but he struggles to come to terms with dealing with corpses and death on a regular basis. Many of us end up in a career that was not exactly planned out but is a product of circumstances and such is this story. Eventually he gets used to the job and becomes quite good at it but then he has to face the negative stigma that is placed on his position by his friends and family.

The plot of this story was very neatly presented in stages. I begins with a good deal of light humor and a series of funny moments that puts the viewer at ease. From there the story becomes more serious and even a bit heavy handed on the emotional side. The notion of dealing with constant death had a bit to do with that. The story also becomes a tale of personal growth both for Daigo as well as his wife Mika. The plot and its message is the strength of the film and I thought the film presented them well. Unfortunately at times the movie seemed to be overdoing it by reaching into the realm of sappiness that it did not need. While this did not ruin the film it did bring it down a notch a bit. The story is very compelling despite the fact that it drags on a bit in the middle. A good thirty minutes could have been removed that were not necessary.

The characters are wonderful and very human and that was the part of the film that I enjoyed the most. While they do not all get equal screen time for development several of them reveal enough about themselves to see them with greater depth. Daigo has center stage so we see him grow into his profession really well. His character development is what made this film special despite its shortcomings. The film was also presented in simple moments and with good imagery to add flavor to the whole experience.

While this film is overall good it may not be for everyone and you really need to be in the right set of mind when seeing it. It is a bit heavy handed and deals with the concept of death frequently although not in depth. The film could have been better had it been shorter and not reached into the realm of sappiness yet it takes away very little from the experience. In the end it is a touching story that has a very universal human element that makes it worth watching. I say if it sounds interesting to you go check it out.