Dare you not to love this movie

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2009)

The first time I knew this film was special was when it received a very special award a few months ago, beating the favorite to win, but there was something about the description and the preview that intrigued me. After seeing this sublime piece, I have to say you'll be missing out if you don't do the same.
"Departures" plays like a lovely symphony, carries you like a breeze, with its exquisite and touching direction, flawless and sensitive performances, and one of most memorable and beautiful scores ever to accompany a film. There are so many moments during this movie that one can't help but feel a connection with the most powerful of our feelings, wanting to surrender and rewire ourselves to be able to express our emotions in ways we have forgotten.
A frustrated musician needs a job and happens to be hired in as a man who gets the deceased ready for their funeral rites, apparently a job that many people consider below respectable standards. As we discover during the film, our protagonist has his own appreciation of what this new position means, and little by little, we learn, pretty much like he does, that there is more to the job than we originally understood.
Luckily for him, he finds some supportive and well developed characters along the way who show him how to restructure his life again, among them is his lovely and charming wife who is probably one of the nicest characters ever on a film. There are the mother and father figures, who give him some long forgotten knowledge, and he learns much as he assists the families of the people he works on.
In the end, after a pretty strong cathartic conclusion, there is most likely not a single dry eye in the house; yet one doesn't feel manipulated in any way, but grateful we were able to accompany him during his reevaluation of what life and love are. "Departures" deserves every accolade, recognition, award, and praise it receives because it explores our humanity, asking us to revisit what makes us what we are, and ways in which we can become much better than what we are.