A very Japanese movie that also translates exceptionally to Western culture. Death is truly universal.

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2019)

The movie is based on a personal memoir of "a Budhist mortician", written by Shinmon Aoki, and is very well filmed and acted. The story is about a man who returns to his home town after a failed attempt at a career in the big town and gets a job as a mortician. What is not immediately apparent to non Japanese is that any job involving handling dead people is traditionally seen as unclean and that explains some of the reactions of the people in the film. In the end, helping someone pass through the "gateway" of death is presented as cathartic, noble and spiritual.
A very beautiful film that I recommend watching. The only issue that I could see is with its length, which is a little over two hours.