Japanese Art Film Wash and Prep Dead for Cremation Encoffiner

Rating: 9/10 (21 January 2010)

Japanese film about a cellist turned funeral home worker won the Oscar for foreign-language film. Inspired by Japanese author Shinmon Aoki's mortician memoir, "Coffinman". Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved & now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work & start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a –Nokanshi- or encoffiner, a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial & entry into the next life. While his wife & others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work & begins to perfect the art of Nokanshi acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life & death, between the departed & the family of the departed. This film won best foreign film Oscar 2009 81st Oscars. I was uncertainly about the word encoffiner. I could not find it in any dictionaries I wrote several & Miriam Webster replied the word has been in use since Shakespeare's time. The equivalent of a casketer in our context would be the embalmer or embalmer's assistants. (the bodies are not embalmed in Japan) Masahiro Motoki (The Longest Night in Shanghai) stars as the lead protagonist Daigo Kobayashi, a cellist in an orchestra & his wife Mika (Ryoko Hirosue). I especially enjoyed the casket business owner (NK Agency) performance (Tsutomu Yamazaki ) it was especially amazing, hilarious at times, and played with seriousness and comedy! He was so great in this role! Director Takita is a terrific visualist and the film's cinematography in and around this small town in Japan is phenomenal. It is really a beauty to behold. This is an excellent movie which covers ground not usually talked about in movies –the after death process. Japans rituals are much more unique & interesting than ours. It is a very well crafted drama with some very comedic moments. It does not get trapped into melodrama as some movies might have. Death reveals many things. Some maybe be harsh, some kind. This movie gives us an interesting look at all of them. The music is beautifully captivating in almost every scene of grief. The film could be criticized for its long length & sentimentality these were not negatives for me. Many in the film world were surprised and upset/angered when this film won best foreign film Oscar over the film Waltz With Bashir. It is a small film compared to Bashir (which was a really profound innovative film) I think this academy chose this film as it has a wider audience due to the film's earnest appeal for renewed respect toward the old & the dead. The film has also won 28 other prizes besides an Oscar. Departures is a somewhat difficult film to decide to see, especially after the story and theme are understood ( this is a movie about washing preparing dead bodies before cremation- not exactly the plot summary to encourage date-night romance or family night movies at home) The film covers heavy subject matter with delicacy, gentle psychology and at times comedic air. A cinematic masterpiece the film is highly recommended 5 stars (be sure and watch Waltz with Bashir also!)