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Review

Departures – Movie Review

When a ton of people flock to see a film, does that make it mainstream? Well if you are talking about Departures, then no, but regardless, many people are seeing it and claiming it is a beautiful film. It must be noted that these people are mostly senior citizens and Japanese individuals, so their view of the film might be slightly obscured.

Departures is a Japanese subtitled film about death, it is a tale about a man, Daigo Kobayashi, who is a cello player in an orchestra in Tokyo. When the orchestra is dissolved due to a lack of interest from the public, Daigo is forced to sell his Cello and return to his childhood home with his wife. Of course seeing as he no longer has a job, he must seek one out. One morning Daigo sees an ad in the local paper about departures, and assumes it is some kind of travel agency looking to hire someone. Unfortunately for him, it turns out to be an encoffinment agency, where he is hired as an assistant. His duty is to clean and dress the bodies prior to being placed in their coffin. One thing which makes this different from a western style of preparation is the location, as this preparation is done in front of the family and friends of the deceased. This sets up many interesting moments for Daigo.

While death is an obvious theme throughout, the mood is not always sad. Throughout the film there is a lot of visual beauty, from scenes of animals to the making up of the dead bodies. It is obvious that this film is not trying to show a gritty side to death, but a peaceful and majestic side. This means a lot of slow scenes of Daigo making up a body, or of him talking to someone. While many people may find this boring, it is a side of Japanese culture which is not always seen on modern films, making it a refreshing change. For those who are not too familiar with this, in Japanese culture a lot of things are done a certain way to project beauty, from the act of serving tea to speaking to someone, there is a certain amount of ceremony and order involved to make the act seem more significant or to show respect. Unfortunately for those who do not know a lot of the Japanese language, some of the particular words used hold some significance, but not enough to ruin the story for you.

The story is filled with symbolism and metaphors, it is definitely not a film you want to sleep through. Even though the premise sounds slightly ridiculous, Daigo’s duties lead him down a path of self discovery as well as finding answers to life and death. No great story is without its funny moments, these scenes serve to cut the tension and help the pace. While there are not many of them in the film, it is nice to break up the emotional story.

If you have not figured it out yet, this film is not for everyone, the reason many senior citizens enjoy the film is because it is slower, which makes it easier for them to follow. For most young people, it is probably a rather boring film, but seeing as I sat through the whole film and found it interesting, who is to say all young people will dislike it. Now for ratings, I think it is a cool+, particularly if you are looking for a Japanese film that presents a side of Japanese culture that is not seen in the ultra violent slasher films produced today or the classic monster films of yesterday. If you are the sort of person who falls asleep easily in a film, then this is not the film for you, but for someone who enjoys a good dramatic story, this will probably rank in the cool- to meh+ range, as it is dramatic but the premise seems a little ridiculous.

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About The Author

Genuwine Jon Hammer

The self proclaimed "Genuwine" Jon Hammer, currently a student studying at Digipen Institute of Technology to be a programmer. I am a huge pop culture nerd, so movies, music, tv, podcasts, and games are all important to me, in fact if I often post about such topics on my twitter.

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Article Information

  • Posted: Monday, July 13th, 2009
  • Author: Genuwine Jon Hammer
  • Filed Under: Film, Review
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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