Departures is a 2008 japanese drama film directed by yojiro takita and starring masahiro motoki, ryoko hirosue, and tsutomu yamazaki. Her first film, after tiller, premiered at sundance in 20, and. Contrary to general perceptions of buddhist priests, he lives an extremely busy life as a counselor to several people who are thinking of ending their own lives, and does so full of grace and empathy. The 20 best japanese movies of the 21st century taste of. The movie departures was almost not shown in japan. A film that explores lifes toughest and most transcendent moments. And now in the departure, she turns her lens on suicide, a huge issue in modernday japan. One of the major discoveries of the 2017 tribeca film festival, lana wilsons the departure is a beautiful, wise, and deeply empathetic immersion into one fascinating characters unique approach to suicide prevention.
Departures is a heartwarming story, which also provides a wonderful insight into japanese culture, particularly the encoffining ceremony of nokanshi, which is minimally practiced in today. Departures the trailer of a 2008 japanese film youtube. The story involves a young man who apprentices to the trade of encoffinment, the preparation of corpses before their cremation. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the. A former punk rockerturnedbuddhist priest in japan who has made a career out of counseling suicidal people finds himself at a crossroads, leading him to confront the same question his patients ask him. How those rituals comfort us, enchant us, and see us through to a place where the pain still exists but might come to an end, is laid bare in okuribito.
The departure is a documentary portrait of ittetsu nemoto, right, seen here with a participant in one of his counseling retreats. Contemporary japanese view of life and death as depicted in the film departures okuribito article pdf available in medical humanities 361. Sad, tender and quietly moving, the departure never says more than it needs to, much like its subject, a buddhist priest who counsels those contemplating suicide. The film opens on a dancer gyrating wildly under the flashing strobe lights of a crowded club, then cuts to a motorcyclist speeding through the city at night before pulling up at a small country temple shortly after dawn. Departures, okuribito is a 2008 japanese film by yojiro takita. By using a story line approach instead of a documentary one, the viewer, who is not familiar with the japanese culture or this tradition, is drawn into this elaborate procedure and ceremony by viewing a young man who has lost his job. Departures is a movie which involves the viewer in an ancient japanese tradition of the honoring of the dead and the deceaseds family and relatives. From kurosawas ikiru through the funeral and now okuribito, japanese cinema has a rich vein of movies that exploit the rituals of death.
As for the rest of the picks, i agree that theyre all excellent, but if this is really meant to be a list of the 20 best japanese films of the 21st century, there are a. Departures received the academy award for best foreign language film of 2008. It profiles ittetsu nemoto, a buddhist priest whose lifework is suicide prevention. In films like kurosawas ikiru, ozus tokyo story, itamis ososhiki the funeral and kore edas maborosi and. The japanese cinema reserves a special place for death. The secrets of final fantasy viis success anime news. Japanese film departures, 2009s foreign language oscar. The frontrunner was widely thought to be the israeli war movie waltz with bashir but the oscar went to departures, a japanese film that. Okuribito is a japanese movie about the profession of nokanshi encoffineer, who prepare deceased bodies for funeral ceremonies. Departure 2015 film, a british film starring juliet stevenson the departure, a belgian film. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living. Directed by yojiro takita and stars masahiro motoki, ryoko hirosue and tsutomu yamazaki. Though the departure s initial draw is the novelty. Departures okuribito the sendingoffperson is an award winning 2008 japanese film about a young cello player who loses his orchestra job and out of financial necessity returns with his wife to his rural home town where he accidentally finds a job for a funeral company.
More translations of departure in japanese all departure lounge. Director yasujiro ozus late spring falls into the shomingeki genre, a type of japanese film that realistically depicts the ordinary lives of modern workingclass and middleclass people. Within brooklyns ultraorthodox jewish community, a widower battles for custody of his son. It was the first movie in ozus acclaimed noriko trilogy, which also includes 1951s early summer and 1953s tokyo story. The second documentary by awardwinning director lana wilson after tiller, the departure is a poetic and deeply moving film that contemplates death as a way of better understanding how we should live.
After life, it is handled in terms of ongoing life. The story involves learning deep love, forgiveness, the healing of childhood loss. The members of the academy who gave departures its oscar must be feeling their mortality. A tender drama performed entirely in yiddish, the film intimately explores the nature of faith and the price of parenthood. Pdf contemporary japanese view of life and death as. Known as departures in english, the movie won the oscar for best foreign language film in 2009. A quietly impressive work whose images, characters, and ruminations linger on long after the lights come up. Daigo, a depressed and unemployed cellist, inadvertently finds himself after he takes a job preparing the dead for funerals. Documentary film about zen buddhist priest premieres at.
Its not often one can have a genuinely spiritual experience watching a movie. Departures, which won an oscar as best foreign language film, is a moving, gently amusing contribution to this tradition and centres on daigo, a 36yearold japanese cellist who recognises theres. The film premiered at the 2017 tribeca film festival in new york. The departure, a beautiful meditation on the value of life, centers on an unforgettable character. Last months tribeca film festival featured the world premiere of the documentary the departure directed by lana wilson. Masahiro motoki and tsutomu yamazaki in departures. The movie tells the story of a secondrate cellist who loses his job when an orchestra is disbanded but finds inner peace and fulfillment working as a nokanshi, ceremonially preparing the bodies. A musiciancultural sophisticate wannabe is shocked when hired to regularly participate in the traditional though frowned upon japanese preparation for departure ceremony but slowly comes to find. But thats precisely whats on offer with the departure, lana wilsons quietly galvanizing portrait of life, death and the thin places in between. It won the academy award for best foreign language film at the 2009 oscars. Lana wilson is an emmywinning filmmaker based in new york.
Ryoko hirosue and kazuko yoshiyuki in departures 2008 masahiro motoki and tsutomu yamazaki in. Lana wilsons documentary the departure centers on a japanese priest who specializes in suicide prevention. The film follows a young man who returns to his hometown after a failed career as a cellist and stumbles across work as. This is a plotoriented film which has a surprising element on how the story develops. Japanese director yojiro takita has created a cinematic masterpiece that is. Departures is a very japanese film, which reflects japanese peoples emphasis on ritual and their sense of beauty.
This movie won the best foreign film oscar last night and when i went to my video store this morning, they do not have it. The movie was a huge hit in hong kong, and in many other markets too, but as usual not in the states, where the remake rights were quickly snapped up. It is the insight inspiring departures, the lovely japanese movie that won this years oscar for best foreign film. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken english.
Despite all the fear, however, the movie took off and gained international fame. The film may idealize the nokanshis job daigos subjects are often younger and more attractive than the reallife norm but it also makes a good case for the japanese way of death. Okuribito, one who sends off is a 2008 japanese drama film directed by yojiro takita and starring masahiro motoki, ryoko hirosue, and tsutomu yamazaki. What to watch in january 2018 your guide to the months mustwatch movies, tv shows, and series to stream. Learn more in the cambridge english japanese dictionary. As the movie s theme is about death, which is taboo for the japanese as death is something that causes defilement to the living it was voted last for a prerelease screening survey. The departure looks at selflessness and suffering from a zen monks view ittetsu nemoto in nagoya, japan, in the documentary the departure. If slow and predictable, departures is a quiet, life affirming story. In the group sessions he holds at his temple, he introduces exercises that attempt to show attendees what ending their lives would really mean in terms of loss and even simulates the. Japanese film departures, 2009s foreign language oscar winner, illuminates asian rituals of death 07042009 05.