Movies, Movies

Best Foreign Language Film winner at the 81st Academy Awards (2009).

I wonder how many people outside of Japan have seen this movie? I was surprised how I was able to get my hands on this film... after searching endlessly for parts of the movie online. Anyway, how I obtained a copy of the film is another story.

The plot is very simple. The main character, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a cellist who lost his job after his orchestra disbanded. From here, he moves back to his old countryside home with his wife. In search of a new job, he follows an ad that requested "assistance to departures." Assuming it had to do with travel agencies, Daigo accepts. However, he later realizes these departures actually meant encoffining the dead and sending those who passed away to their afterlives.

So here are the conflicts. Jobs like encoffining and the related are not exactly smiled upon, thus we have an issue between Daigo and his wife. And on a side note, Daigo has to deal with his somewhat "unremarkable" life, which consisted of being abandoned by his father while he was a child, unable to attend his own mother's funeral, struggling for income, and dealing with his present situations.

What I can say is, the storyline is not diffucult to follow at all. The reason why this film won Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars was probably because of the superb acting that was carried out through the entire movie. Nothing was exaggerated, everything seemed smooth and natural.

Recommended: if you like dramatic films with family themes, in addition to great music (he's a cellist, remember).