DEPARTURES

Director: Yogiro Takita
Language: Japanese
Courtesy: NetFlix

My Rating: @ @ @ @ @

Synopsis: This Oscar wining film is about Family, Love, Self Discovery, and Hope. It is about finding your goal and eventually being content with what you do, your purpose in life, the real reason of your existence. I would hate to ruin the movie for you by giving you the real synopsis... so I will try to "ambiguate" it a little for you.... Daigo is Cello player, married to a beautiful, caring and understanding wife, and who's dream job is to play in an orchestra. He is finally living his dream, but fate has something else in mind for him. Freshly unemployed, he realizes that maybe he is heading down the wrong career path. He decides to move back to his home town where he could live off his mom's house and look for a new direction. He does... He finds a job as a "nokanshi", the one who prepares the dead, and ends up working for the "undertaker".... 

Honestly, I learned something new about the Japanese culture and their rituals to celebrate life and death after I saw this movie. Even though it is a thought provoking drama it has many moments of comic relief that I found very hilarious at times. Pay close attention to the dialogues (sub-titles), there are some very intense and powerful lines that will move you deeply. My fav lines are "off you go..... we'll meet again....", "It's you last purchase, and someone else chooses it for you..."