Departure (Japanese: ????? , Hepburn: < i> Okuribito , "who sent") is a Japanese drama film of 2008 directed by YÃ… jir? Takita and starring Masahiro Motoki, Ry? Ko Hirosue, and Tsutomu Yamazaki. Loosely based on Coffinman, a memoir by Shinmon Aoki, the film follows a young man who returns to his hometown after a failed career as a cellist and stumbles across the job as a n? kanshi - a traditional Japanese ritual ritual expert. He was subjected to prejudice from those around him, including from his wife, because of the strong social taboos against people dealing with death. Eventually he gained their respect and learned the importance of interpersonal relationships through the beauty and dignity of his work.
The idea for Departure to appear after Motoki, was influenced by having seen the funeral ceremony along the Ganges River when traveling in India, reading widely about the matter of death and finding Coffinman . He feels that his story will adapt well to the movie, and Departure finished a decade later. Due to Japanese prejudice against people handling the dead, the distributor was reluctant to let go - until the surprise grand prize won at the Montreal World Film Festival in August 2008. The next month the film opened in Japan, where he later won the Academy Prize for Picture of the Year and became the best-selling domestic film of the year. This success was achieved in 2009, when it became the first Japanese production to win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Departures received positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes aggregator showing an 80% approval rating of 105 reviews. Critics praised the movie humor, the beauty of the encoding ceremony, and the quality of acting, but some took the issue with predictability and open sentimentality. The reviewers highlight various themes, but focus primarily on the humanity that death brought to the surface and how to strengthen family ties. The success of Departures leads to the establishment of tourist attractions on film-linked sites and increased interest in broadcasting ceremonies, as well as storytitings for various media, including manga and stage games.
Video Departures (2008 film)
Plot
Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) lost his job as a cellist when his orchestra was dissolved. He and his wife Mika (RyÅ Ko Hirosue) moved from Tokyo to his hometown in Yamagata, where they lived in his childhood home he left behind when his mother died two years earlier. In front of a coffee shop operated by Daigo's father before he went with a waitress when Daigo was six; since then both have no contacts. Daigo feels resentful to his father and guilt for not caring for his mother better. He still keeps the "stone-letter" - the stone that is said to convey meaning through his texture - which his father had given him years before.
Daigo finds an advertisement for the job "help the departure". Assuming it was a job at a travel agency, he went to an interview at Agent NK's office and learned from secretary, Yuriko Kamimura (Kimiko Yo), that he would prepare the body for cremation in a ceremony known as freezing. Though reluctant, Daigo is hired on the spot and receives a down payment from his new boss, Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki). Daigo secretly about his duty and hide the original nature of the work from Mika.
His first task was to help burial a woman who died at home and remain undiscovered for two weeks. She was overwhelmed with nausea and then humiliated when the stranger on the bus detected a bad odor on her. To clean him up, he visited the public baths he often visited since childhood. Owned by Tsuyako Yamashita (Kazuko Yoshiyuki), mother of one of Daigo's former classmates.
Over time, Daigo becomes comfortable with his profession as he completes a number of tasks and experiences gratitude from the family of the deceased. Though he faces social exclusion, Daigo refuses to quit, even after Mika discovers a training DVD in which he plays the corpse and leaves him to return to his parents' home in Tokyo. Former classmate Daigo, Yamashita (Tetta Sugimoto) insists that mortar experts find a more respectable line of work and, until then, avoid him and his family.
After a few months, Mika returned and announced that she was pregnant. He expressed the hope that Daigo would find a job that could make their child proud. During the next proposition, Daigo receives a call for embezzlement to Mrs Yamashita. Daigo prepares his body in front of the family Yamashita and Mika, who have known the owner of a public bath. The ritual gave him the respect of all those present, and Mika stopped insisting that Daigo change jobs.
Sometime later, they learn about Daigo's father's death. Daigo is reluctant to go with Mika to another village to see the body. Daigo was initially unable to recognize him, but was offended when the local funeral workers were not careful with the body. He insisted on wearing it himself, and when he did find the stone letter he had given to his father, clinging to the dead man's hand. The childhood memories of his father's face returned to him, and after he finished the ceremony, Daigo gently pressed the stone letter into Mika's pregnant belly.
Maps Departures (2008 film)
Production
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Japanese cemetery is a common high-ritual affair - though not always done in accordance with Buddhist rituals. In preparation for the funeral, the body was washed and the hole covered with cotton or gauze. The encoffining ritual (called n? Kan ), as depicted in Departures , is rarely done, and even then only in rural areas. The ceremony is not standard, but it generally involves a professional mortgage expert ( ??? , n Kanshi ) ritual prepares the body, dresses the dead in white, and sometimes apply make-up. The body is then laid on dry ice in a coffin, along with personal belongings and items necessary for the journey to the afterlife.
Despite the importance of death rituals, in traditional Japanese cultures the subject is considered unclean because everything related to death is considered a source of anger (pollution). After contact with the dead, the individual must purify himself through the purification ritual. People who work with dead people, like mortals, are considered unclean, and during feudal times those whose work is related to death become burakumin (untouchable), forced to live in their own hamlet and discriminated against by the public at large. Despite the cultural shift since the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the stigma of death still has considerable strength in Japanese society, and discrimination against untouchables continues.
Until 1972, most deaths were handled by families, funeral homes, or n? Kanshi . In 2014, about 80% of deaths occur in hospitals, and the preparation of corpses is often done by hospital staff; in such cases, families often do not see the body until the funeral. A 1998 survey found that 29.5% of Japanese people believed in life after death, and 40% wanted to believe; The highest confidence among the youth. The belief in the existence of the soul (54%) and the relationship between the living and the dead (64.9%) are also common.
Conception and preproduction
In the early 1990s, 27-year-old Motoki and his companions traveled to India; right before leaving, on the recommendation of the friend he read the book Shin'ya Fujiwara Memento Mori (Latin for "remember that you will die"). While in India, he visits Varanasi, where he sees the ceremony where the dead are cremated and the ashes float on the Ganges River. Watching this death ceremony against the backdrop of a bustling crowd about their lives greatly affected Motoki. When he returned to Japan, he read many books about the subject of death, and in 1993 wrote a book about the relationship between life and death: Tenkuu Seiza - Hill Heaven . Among the books he read was the autobiography of Shinmon Aoki, Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician ( ????? < span>, Nikki Nikki ) , which exposes Motoki to the world n? kanshi for the first time. Motoki said he found a sense of mystery and approached-eroticism towards a profession that he felt had affinity with the world of film.
Getting funding for the project was difficult due to the taboo of death, and the crew had to approach several companies before the Departure was approved by Toshiaki Nakazawa and Yasuhiro Mase. According to the film's director, Y? Jir? Takita, the consideration in taking the film is the age of the crew: "we got to a certain point in our lives when death creeps up to be a factor around us". Kund? Koyama is enlisted to provide the script, first for a film; Previous experience has been in scripting for television and stage. Takita, who started his career in the pink movie genre prior to entering mainstream filming in 1986 with Comic Magazine, took a director role in 2006, after producer Toshiaki Nakazawa presented it with the first draft of the script. In an interview later he stated "I want to make a movie from the perspective of someone who deals with something universal and yet is looked down upon, and even discriminated against". Though he knew about the inauguration ceremony, he had never seen it.
The Departure production took ten years, and the work was finally loosely adapted from Coffinman; then the script revision is done collaboratively by players and crew. Although religious funeral aspects are important in source work, the film does not include them. This, along with the fact that the filming was completed in Yamagata and not Toyushima's prefectural home of Aoki, caused tension between production staff and writers. Aoki expressed concern that the film could not overcome the "ultimate fate of the dead". The first edition of the book is divided into three parts; the third, "Light and Life", is a divine Buddhist of life and death, about the "light" seen when one feels the integration of life and death, which is not in the film. Aoki believes that the humanistic approach of the film removes the religious aspects that are at the heart of the book - an emphasis on maintaining a relationship between the living and the dead that he feels is only a religion that can give - and refuses to allow his name and name. books to use. For a new title, Koyama coined the term okuribito as a euphemism for n? Kanshi , comes from the words okuru ("to send") and hito ("person").
While books and movies share the same premise, the details are very different; Aoki attributes this change to the studio to make his story more commercial. Both feature a protagonist who survives the anxiety and prejudice of his work as a kanshi, experiencing personal growth as a result of his experience, and discovering a new meaning in life when faced with death. In both, the main character is related to social prejudice and misunderstanding of his profession. At Coffinman , the protagonist is the owner of a pub-cafà ©  © who has gone out of business; during a family dispute his wife threw a newspaper at him, where he found the ad for the position n? kanshi . He finds pride in his work for the first time when dealing with the body of a former girlfriend. Koyama transforms the protagonist of the bar owner into a cellist when he wants a cello orchestra to score a movie. Other differences include moving the arrangements from Toyoma to Yamagata for the convenience of filming, making the "lumps" the lion's share of the plot, and avoiding heavier scenes, such as religious ones and one where Aoki talks about seeing "light" in a swarm of maggots. Koyama also added a subplot in which Daigo was able to forgive his late father; taken from the novel he wrote, it was meant to cover the story with "some sense of happiness".
Casting
Motoki, at that time in his early 40s and after building a reputation as a realist, was chosen as Daigo. Veteran actor Tsutomu Yamazaki was elected to Sasaki's role; Takita has worked with Yamazaki at We Are Not Alone (1993). Although Mika's character was originally planned as the same age as Daigo, her role goes to pop singer Ry? Ko Hirosue, who previously acted in Takita Himitsu (Secret ) in 1999. Takita explains that the younger actress will better represent the growth of the main pair of naivete. In an interview in 2009, Takita stated that she had chosen "everyone on my wish list".
Motoki studied the art of first-hand deprivation of a mortar expert, and assisted in the inauguration ceremony; he then stated that the experience gave him a "sense of mission... to try to use as much of human warmth as possible to return [the deceased] to a living presence for presentation to his family". Motoki then drills himself by practicing in his talent manager until he feels he has mastered the procedure, whose movements are complicated and complicated, compared to the Japanese tea ceremony. Takita attends a funeral to understand the grieving family's feelings, while Yamazaki has never participated in an exterminator training. Motoki also learned how to play the cello for the beginning of the film.
To provide a realistic body while preventing moving corpses, after a long casting process, the crew chooses extras that can lie as quietly as possible. For the owner of the bathhouse of Tsuyako Yamashita, this is impossible because of the need to see it alive first, and the double body search does not bear fruit. In the end, the crew uses digital effects to transmit the still images of the actors during the character's funnel scenes, allowing for a realistic effect.
Filming and post-production
The Sakata Nonprofit Sakata Location Box was established in December 2007 to address on-site issues such as additional search and site negotiations. After deciding to shoot at Sakata, the Location Box staff had two months to prepare eighty film crew members. Negotiations are slow, as many local property owners lose interest after learning that filming will involve a funeral scene; those who agreed insisted that the shootings took place outside of business hours.
Toyama is a setting of Coffinman and Takita's prefectures, but the filming is done in Yamagata; this is largely because the Nami National Association, headquartered in Hokkaido, has branch offices in Sakata. Some early scenes of snowy landscapes were shot in 2007, and the main shooting began in April 2008, which lasted for 40 days. Locations include Kaminoyama, Sakata, Tsuruoka, Yuza, and Amarume. NK Agent Office was filmed in a Western-style three-story building in Sakata built between the middle of Meiji and Taish? period (1880s-1920). Originally a restaurant called Kapp? Obata, it was out of business in 1998. Kobayashis' cafà © ©, called Concerto in the film, is located in Kaminoyama in the former beauty salon. Out of a hundred candidates, Takita chose him for his atmosphere as an old building with a view of the nearby river and the surrounding mountains. The DVD training shooting scene took place in Sakata Minato-za, Yamagata's first cinema, which has been closed since 2002.
Soundtrack for Departures is by Joe Hisaishi, a composer who has gained international recognition for his work with Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Before filming begins, Takita asks him to prepare a soundtrack that will represent the separation between Daigo and his father, as well as the applicant's love for his wife. Due to the importance of cello and cello music in the narrative, Hisaishi emphasized the instrument in its soundtrack; he described the challenge of concentrating the score around the cello as one of the most difficult things he has ever done. This score was played during filming, which Takita says "allows [the crew] to visualize many emotions in the movie" and thus contributes to the quality of the completed work.
Upon completion, Takita declared Departure "perfect", and praised the crew for their independence in developing content and humble, "handmade" quality movies. That the initial success of the film relies heavily on word-of-mouth is also a source of pride for the director. Coffinman author Shinmon Aoki praised Motoki's performance and film ability to show the importance of family and interpersonal relationships, although he was disappointed with the declining religious aspect of his story.
Style
Since they are the "dramatic central pieces" of the film, the encoding ceremony at Departures has received extensive commentary. Mike Scott, for example, writes in The Times-Picayune that these scenes are beautiful and heartbreaking, and Nicholas Barber of The Independent describes them as "elegant and dignified". James Adams of The Globe and Mail wrote that they are "a soothing, dignified ritual, a hypnotic gift, with the flexibility of a hand that borders on the witch." As the film continues, Paul Byrnes from The Sydney Morning Herald argues, the audience gets a better knowledge of the ceremony and its importance. Viewers see that the ceremonies are not only about preparing the body, but also about "bringing dignity to death, honoring the dead and solace for those who mourn," through which coffins can help repair broken family ties and heal damages done to those who are left behind.
There is idealization n? Kanshi as presented in the movie. In all but one case, the dead were either young or made up, so "viewers can easily tolerate these images on screen". Bodies that have not been found for several days are never displayed on the screen. There are no bodies showing the skinny figure of a deceased person after a long illness, or injuries and bruises from an accident victim. Japanese expert Mark R. Mullins writes that the gratitude shown in the Departure may not occur in real life; according to Coffinman, there is "nothing lower on a social scale than mortars, and the truth of the matter is that [the Japanese] are afraid of the coffin and the cremator only as much as death and corpses".
In a montage, Daigo's scenes play his childhood cello while sitting outdoors interspersed with scenes of encoding ceremonies. Byrnes believes that this scene is meant to enhance the emotional charge of the film, and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times considers it a "beautiful fantasy scene" in which the camera is "freely given" from standard shots in general. Yoshiko Okuyama of the University of Hawaii at Hilo found that Daigo's deft movements while playing the cello reflect the high level of professionalism he has achieved. Some reviewers, such as Leigh Paatsch of Herald Sun , questioned the need for shooting. Along the movie soundtrack, cello music remains dominant. Takita draws parallels between the instrument and the encoding ceremony, which states it
... ironically, there is something similar between the process of burial and the act of playing the cello. When you play the cello, the instrument has a plump human shape. The cello player embraces the shape while playing the instrument, very loving, affectionate. It's very similar, physically, with an encoffin- tary action, carrying the body, being soft and gentle with it.
Byrnes finds that Departures use cherry blossom symbols, flowers that bloom after winter only to wilt soon afterwards, to represent life's ungodliness; through this understanding, he writes, the Japanese are trying to define their own existence. Further natural symbols are presented through the changing seasons, which "show subtle emotional changes" in the characters, as well as the letters, which represent "love, communication, [and] rods passed down from generation to generation." Film settings are used to convey sensations, including rustic solitude and intimacy of public bath homes. White color, manifested through snow, chrysanthemum flowers, and other objects, prominent in the film; Okuyama points out that this, along with classical music and ritualized hand gestures, portrays the sacredness and purity of the death ceremony.
Departures combines aspects of humor, the "unexpected" supplement to Ebert's suggested death theme may be used to mask the audience's fears. Betsy Sharkey of Los Angeles Times argues that, through the use of this humor, the film avoids becoming too dark and instead acts as a "warm blend" of imagination and irony. This humor manifests in a variety of manners, such as the scene where "the agonizing Daigo, naked except a pair of adult diapers, is a reluctant model" for educational videos about the encoding process, as well as the scene in which Daigo discovers that the person he is preparing is a trans. Takita states that the addition of humor was deliberate, because "humans are funny naturally", and that humor is not against the darker film theme.
Themes
Some critics discuss the theme of death found in Departures . Scott highlights the contrast between the taboo of death and the value of the work associated with it. He also noted the role of the encoffiners in showing "one last act of mercy" by presenting the dead in a way that preserves the memories of pride in their lives. Initially, Daigo and his family were unable to overcome the taboo and their nausea when faced with death. Daigo is estranged from his wife and friends because of traditional values. Ultimately through his work with the dead that Daigo finds fulfillment, and, as Peter Howell says from the Toronto Star, viewers realize that "death may be the cessation of life, but it is not the end of humanity." Okuyama writes that, ultimately, the film (and the book that it serves) serves as a "persistent but persistent protest" against the discrimination that people facing death continue to encounter in modern Japan: death is a normal part. life, not something disgusting.
Along with this death theme, Takita believes Departure is about life, about finding the lost human feelings; Daigo gets a better perspective on life and knows the diversity of people's lives only after meeting them in death. This life includes family ties: Daigo comes to terms with his father is the main motive, the confinement scene focuses on living members of the family rather than the dead, and even at the NK Agent office, the conversation often revolves around family issues. Mika's pregnancy is a catalyst for reconciliation with Daigo.
Ebert writes that, as with other Japanese films such as Tokyo Story (Yasujir, Ozu, 1953) and The Funeral (Juzo Itami 1984), Departure > i> focuses on the effects of death on survivors; Hereafter is not given much discussion. He regarded this as an indication of "unacceptable and literally accepted acceptance of death" in Japanese culture, which must be met not by extreme sadness, but by contemplation. Takita states that he intends to focus on "dialogue between the dead and the surviving family". The film touches on the question of the afterlife: the cremator likens death as a "gate", and Okuyama writes that in this sense the cremator is the goalkeeper and the building director is the guide.
Byrnes finds that the Departure makes people question the extent of modernity's influence on Japanese culture, noting the undercurrent of "traditional attitudes and values" that permeate the film. Although the inauguration ceremony was traditionally settled by the families of the dead, a declining interest for it opened up a "niche market" for professional cemeteries. Okuyama writes that, through this film, Takita fills "spiritual loss" caused by the departure from tradition in modern Japan. Tadao Sato connects the theme of modernity with death, explaining that the overwhelming lethal care of the film shows the evolution of Japanese feelings about life and death. He considers the film treatment n? Kan as an artistic ceremony rather than a religious ceremony to reflect the modern Japanese agnostic attitude.
Release
The taboo subject Departure makes the prospective distributor alert to take the movie. Surveys conducted on pre-release play place them at the bottom of the list of movies that viewers want to see. In the end, the film debut at the Montreal World Film Festival in August 2008, which was rewarded with the festival's main prize, provided the incentive necessary for the distributor to choose Departure ; it eventually received its domestic Japanese release on September 13, 2008. Even so, due to the strong taboo of death, Takita worried about film acceptance and did not anticipate commercial success, and others expressed concern that the film lacked a clear target audience.
This fear is misplaced; Departure debuted in Japan in fifth place, and during the fifth week of operation reached its peak in third place. It sold 2.6 million tickets in Japan and generated 3.2 billion yen ($ 32 million) in box office revenues within five months of its debut. The film is still playing in 31 theaters when its success at the Academy Awards in February 2009 renewed interest; the number of displays shown increased to 188 and the film generated  ¥ 2.8 billion ($ 28 million), making a total  ¥ 6 billion ($ 60 million). This made the domestic bestselling film and best-selling movie top 15 for 2008. The executive producer Yasuhiro Mase praised this success with the Great Recessionary effect in Japan: viewers looking for work after recently downsizing with empathy with Daigo.
From the beginning an international release of the film was intended; because English is considered a key language in international film festivals, English subtitles are prepared. The translation is handled by Ian MacDougall. He believes that the workings of the world of mortification are far from the experience of most Japanese people as from non-Japanese audiences. He therefore feels that faithful translation is the best, without going far to accommodate foreign audiences for foreign cross-cultural elements.
In September 2008, ContentFilm obtained international rights for Departures , which at that time was licensed for screenings in countries such as Greece, Australia and Malaysia; the film is finally played in 36 countries. The North American distribution is handled by Regent Releasing, and the Departures receive a limited release in nine theaters starting on May 29, 2009. Overall, the film earned nearly $ 1.5 million during the North American launch before closing on June 24 2010 In the United Kingdom, Departures aired on December 4, 2009 and distributed by Distributor Arrow Film. The film reached a worldwide gross of nearly $ 70 million.
Adaptations and other media
Before Departure is showing, manga adaptation by Akira Sas? serialized in twelve installments in two weekly Big Comic Superior, from February to August 2008. Sas? agreed to take the adaptation because he was impressed by the manuscript. She had a chance to see the movie before beginning her adaptation, and began to feel that a too literal adaptation would not be appropriate. He made changes to the settings and physical appearance of the characters, and increased the focus on the role of music in the story. Then in 2008 the series was compiled in a 280-page volume released by Shogakukan.
On September 10, 2008, three days before the Japanese premiere of Departures , a soundtrack album for the film - containing nineteen songs from the film and featuring orchestra performances by Tokyo Metropolitan members and NHK Symphony Orchestras - released by Universal Music Japan. Pop singer Ai provided lyrics for music by Hisaishi for the song "Okuribito/So Special"; performed by Ai with arrangements for cellos and orchestra, the single was released by Universal Sigma on September 10, 2008 along with a promotional video. The music sheet for the soundtrack of this film was published by KMP in 2008 (for cello and piano) and Onky? in 2009 (for cello, violin, and piano).
Shinobu Momose, a writer specializing in novelization, adapted Departures as a novel. It was published by Shogakukan in 2008. That year the company also released Ishibumi ( Surat-Batu ), a picture book about movie themes told from the point of view of the stone talk; this book is written by Koyama and illustrated by Seitar? Kurota. The following year Shogakukan published the first draft edition of Koyama. The stage version of the movie, also titled Departures , was written by Koyama and directed by Takita. It debuted at Akasaka ACT Theater on May 29, 2010, featuring kabuki actor Nakamura Kankur? as Daigo and Rena Tanaka as Mika. The story, set seven years after the closing of the film, concerns the couple's discomfort over Daigo's profession.
Home release
The dual-layer DVD release, with special features including trailers, documentary-making, and recorded recording ceremonies, was released in Japan on March 18, 2009. North American DVD Edition of Departures , including interviews with director, released by Koch Vision on January 12, 2010; the movie is not dubbed, but is presented with Japanese audio and English subtitles. Blu-ray edition followed in May. This home release received mixed reviews. Franck Tabouring DVD Verdict is absolutely free of charge for movies and digital transfers, keeping in mind the visuals are clean and sharp and the audio (especially music) "likes to listen". Thomas Spurlin, writing for DVD Talk, rated the release as "Highly Recommended", focusing on "unexpected power generation" of film quality. Another writer for the website, Jeremy Mathews, advises readers to "Skip It", finds the right presentation DVD from source material - which he considers "reducing itself to rigid and mug-filled attempts at widespread, awkward comedies -it's a tear-jerking scene ". Both DVD Talk reviews agree that audio and visual quality is less than perfect, and that additional DVD contents are bad; Mathews described the interview as the director answering "boring questions in a boring way".
Reception
Reviews
Departures generally receive positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes review reviewers picked up 105 reviewers and rated 80% of them positively, with an average score of 7.1 out of 10. Metacritic aggregators gave the film 68 out of 100, based on 27 reviews.
domestic reviews
Initial review in Japan is positive. In Kinema Junpo , Tokitoshi Shioda calls the departure point in Takita's career, a human drama that captures laughter and tears, while in the same publication Masaaki Nomura describes the film as depth work a flexible one that might indicate a move to adulthood Takita, praised the director for capturing human feelings from Motoki's encoding performance. Writing on the Yomiuri Shimbun, Seichi Fukunaga praises Takita for using touching and touching stories with humor to reverse the prejudices against the taboo subject. He praised the show Motoki and Yamazaki, especially those seriously plays Daigo against the bewildered Sasaki.
In Asahi Shimbun , Sadao Yamane invented the amazingly constructed film and praised the actors' performances. Yamane was impressed with Motoki's subtle hand movements when he performed a greening ceremony. Tomomi Katsuta in Mainichi Shimbun finds a meaningful story that makes the audience think about the lives of different people alive, and the importance of a dying person. Writing in the same newspaper, Takashi Suzuki thinks the movie is memorable but predictable, and Y? Ji Takahashi argues that the film's ability to find nobles in a prejudiced subject is an excellent achievement. Sh 'ko Watanabe gave Departures four of the five stars in The Nikkei newspaper , praising the performances of the helpless actors.
Following the success of Departure at the Academy Awards, critic Sabur? Kawamoto finds a movie to show Japan that Japan can relate to, in that case, in a country whose habits are heavily burdening a visit to the ancestral grave, death has always been a family affair. He believes the film has the beauty of samurai, with many scenes of families seated seiza . Critic Y? Ichi Maeda gave this movie a 90% rating, and praised the show from two leads for much of the film's success. He praised the emotional impact and balance of his seriousness and humor, but was more critical of father-son relationships, which he considered excessive. Maeda attributes the film's international success, though the content is very Japanese, for a clear portrayal of the Japanese view of life and death. He found the conceptual scale of films to have an interest in Hollywood (something that is considered lacking in most Japanese films).
Review of Takur? Yamaguchi gave the film an 85% rating, and found the treatment of his charming subject. He praised his emotional and humorous impact, the braided journey of northern Japan with Hisaishi's cello scores, and the spirit of Japanese film. Media critic Sadao Yamane discovers the moving beauty in Sasaki's agile hand movements taught Daigo to prepare the body, and believes that previous reading of the original script will deepen the audience's understanding of the action. Mark Schilling of The Japan Times gave the film four stars out of five, praising the acting despite criticizing the apparent idealization of the announcers. He concluded that the film "makes a good case for Japan's death way."
International review
Internationally, Departures have received mostly positive reviews. Ebert gave this movie four perfect stars, describing it as "rock-solid in its fundamentals" and highlighting the cinematography, music, and casting of Yamazaki as Sasaki. He found that the end result "works perfectly" and "very well in reaching the universal end of narration". Derek Armstrong from AllMovie gave the film four stars out of five films, describing it as a "lyrical beauty film" that is "filled with little fun". In a four-star review, Byrnes describes the film as "moving meditation on the transience of life" that shows "extraordinary humanity," concluding "this is a beautiful movie but takes two handkerchiefs." Howell gave the film three stars out of four, praising his acting and cinematography. He wrote that "Departure " secretly undermines aesthetic and emotional expectations "without ever losing his" high-minded intent ". In a three-and-a-half-star review, Claudia Puig of USA Today describes the Departure as a "beautifully structured" film that, although predictable, is "emotional, touching" and "deeply influencing".
Philip French of The Observer considers Departure to be a "moving, soft" film, which the director "carefully planned". Sharkey found it to be "an emotionally heartbreaking journey with a quiet man", who was well thrown with "actors who move lightly, gracefully" in various settings. In Entertainment Weekly , Owen Gleiberman delivers the B-movie, considering it "soft and, sometimes, somewhat slick", though it certainly affects anyone who loses parents. Barber found Departure to be "sincere, understated, [and] cute cute", worth watching (though ultimately predictable). Mike Scott gave the film three and a half stars out of four, discovering it was a "shocking examination of life and loss", with humor perfectly complementing "moving and meaningful stories", but lending itself to the "mug [ging] character for camera ".
Meanwhile, Kevin Maher of The Times describes Departures as a comedy " verklempt " with "push-button crying" exhausting, though he considers it saving with quality acting, "majestic" soundtracks, and "daydreaming". Other diverse reviews are published at The Daily Telegraph, which describes the film as "an emotionally safe and generous entertainment buff" that is not worthy of its Academy Award. Philip Kennicott wrote in The Washington Post that the film was "polished as heavy," predictable but ready to break taboos, drowned in death but unable to escape "a disgusting Japanese sense for sentimentality." In Variety , Eddie Cockrell writes that the film offers "fascinating glimpses" of the ceremony of attestation but must have a much shorter running time. Paatsch gave three stars of five photos, depicting them as "sad films" that "stretched out with delights and precision that gradually grabbed the attention of the viewers" but considered some scenes, such as a montage, "without the need to striking a flourish ". Edward Porter of The Sunday Times wrote that the success of the film at the Academy Awards can be blamed on "Academy cases that support bland sentimentalities."
The A.V. Club 's Keith Phipps gives Departures a C-, writes that although it displays "handsome pictures of provincial life" and summarizes scenes with "poetic quality ", finally the movie" dripped from one emotion to the next ". A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times that the film was "mediocre," predictable, and superficial in a combination of humor and melodrama. Though sometimes touching moments, it considers Departure "appealing primarily as an index of desperate and conventional despair of the Academy of despair". Tony Rayns of the Comment Film provided a scathing commentary in which he denounced the script as "an embarrassing and obvious blaze", acting merely as "sufficient", and the film was simply "a compliment for good-looking corpses". Adams gave two of four stars, praised the emotional and visual prosecution scenes and "full attention to the texture, tastes and behavior of semi-rural Japan" but condemned the predictability of the plot; he writes that "Forty-five minutes, [the viewers] prepare a mental checklist of every turn Daigo Kobayashi will face, then negotiate - and at stake if Takita does not give everyone."
Awards
At the 32nd Japan Academy Prize ceremony held in February 2009, Departures dominated the competition. It received a total of thirteen nominations, winning ten, including Picture of the Year, Scenario of the Year (Koyama), Director of the Year (Takita), and Extraordinary Performance by Actors in the Main Role (Motoki). In Extraordinary Performance by an Actress in the Leading Role category, Hirosue lost to Tae Kimura from All Around Us , while in Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Departures 's category Tomio Ogawa lost to Paco and Magical Book 's Towako Kuwashima. Hisaishi, who was nominated for two Outstanding Achievement in Music awards, won on his assessment of the animated film Studio Ghibli Ponyo . Responding to victory, Motoki said "It feels as though everything miraculously comes together in balance this time with Okuribito".
Departures have been submitted to the 81st Academy Awards as a Japanese delivery for Best Foreign Language awards. Although eleven previous Japanese films have won Academy Awards in other categories, such as Best Animated Feature or Best Costume Design, the Best Foreign Film awards that have not worked very well in the Japanese film industry. Departure is not expected to win, due to strong competition from the Israeli and French filings (Ari Folman Waltz with Bashir and Laurent Cantet The Class , respectively), but ultimately was the winner of the February 2009 ceremony. This was regarded as a surprise by some film critics, and David Itzkoff termed the Departure The New York Times i> "Movies That Eliminate Your Oscars Stage for You". Motoki, who expects Israel's "beautiful" surrender to victory, is also shocked; he describes himself as a "hanging observer only", and regrets "not walking [with] more confidence" after his arrival.
Departures received recognition at various film festivals, including the Audience Choice Awards at the 28th Hawaii International Film Festival, Grand Prix des AmÃÆ' © riques at the 32nd Montreal Film Festival and Best Narrative Film at the Festival International Film 20th Palm Springs. Motoki was selected as the best actor in several ceremonies, including at the Asian Film Awards, Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and Blue Ribbon Awards; he's also the viewer's choice for the best actor at the Golden Rooster Awards. At the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards, Departures were selected as Best Asian Movies, defeating three Chinese films and Ponyo . Following the 21st Nikkan Sports Film Award ceremony, where the Departure won Best Movie and Best Director, Takita expressed surprise at the movie award, saying "I do not know how well my job will be accepted." In December 2009, the film has won 98 awards.
Impact
The international success of Departures received great attention from the press in Japan, especially his win at the Academy Awards. The victory caused a theatrical re-release in Japan and Aoki's books were sold in stores - more than 230,000 copies had been purchased.
After the film's success, Sakata Location Box set up a hospitality service called Mukaebito - a Japanese movie title punch that shows "other greeting or taking" people, not "senders". This service stores the location of the shooting and provides a map of this location to travelers. In 2009, the Location Box opened a building that serves as the NK Agency office to the public. For a fee, visitors can go in and see props from the movie. Under the job creation program, between 2009 and 2013 the organization received  ¥ 30 million from Yamagata Prefecture and  ¥ 8 million from Sakata City for the maintenance and administration of the building. The site attracted nearly 120,000 visitors in 2009, although the number quickly dropped; in 2013 there are fewer than 9,000 visitors. The security fears due to the age of the building caused the Sakata city government to terminate the organization's rent, and the building was closed again at the end of March 2014. At that time, the City Tourism division was considering options, such as limiting the visit to the first two floors. The building used as Concerto cafà © à © has been open to the public since 2009 as the Kaminoyama Concerto Museum, and Sakata Minato-za cinema has also been opened for tourists. The hometown of Takita, Takaoka, Toyama, has the Film Resource Museum; staff have reported that sometimes more than a hundred fans of Takita visit per day.
The success of this film resulted in greater interest in encoffining and n? Kanshi . Even the model of the hearse in the film is merchandise: Mitsuoka Limousine Type 2-04, a smaller version, cheaper than the movie vehicle, is marketed on February 24, 2009. The manufacturer, Mitsuoka Motors, is located in Takita prefectural house in Toyama. In 2013, Mitsuki Kimura, from family n? Kanshi , founded Okuribito Academy along with nurse and entrepreneur Kei Takamaru. It offers training in encoffining, embalming, and related practice.
Explanation notes
References
The work cited
External links
- Official website (via the Internet Archive)
- Departure on IMDb
- Departure at Rotten Tomatoes
- Departure in Metacritic
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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