by  Luanne Paul King

Departures

Filming Departures — and preparing the film’s original music — took 10 years! This film won the 2009 Academy Award for best foreign film; Yojiro Takita directed the movie and Joe Hisaishi wrote the enchanting music.

Masahiro Motoki plays the main character, Daigo Kobayashi. Motoki learned to play the violoncello for the role; in the opening scene, we see him performing with a symphony orchestra in Tokyo. At the end of the performance, the players are told that the orchestra must be disbanded due to lack of funds. Daigo is shocked. He loved performing with such great musicians. Also, he recently bought an expensive cello. It is now necessary to sell it and move back to Sakata, his hometown. Good-natured wife Mika Kobayashi (Ryoko Hirosue) agrees.

When they arrive at his old home, Daigo sees a newspaper ad by NK Agency saying it needs someone for “assisting departures.” He assumes NK must be a travel agency and rushes to the address only to discover that NK stands for “encoffination” — the process of ceremonially preparing a dead person to be placed in a coffin, as mourners watch. To his surprise, Daigo is offered a good salary and cash in advance. At home with Mika, he just mumbles that he’ll “assist in some ceremony.” Mika imagines weddings.

The first day at NK, Daigo has to act as a corpse in a training DVD that explains the procedure of encoffination, the traditional rituals to prepare the dead: cleansing under tasteful silk wraps, unclenching the hands and reverent positioning of the head — all before the body is put in a coffin.

One day, Mika plays the training DVD Daigo made. She’s horrified and asks him to quit his “disgusting job.” He refuses and Mika leaves! Alone, Daigo begins to appreciate the gratitude of family members of the deceased; the families are thankful for his thoughtful service. He finds his old small cello in his childhood home — the one he got after his father left when Daigo was 6 years old. Daigo enjoys playing it. One day, Mika returns, pregnant, certain Daigo will now resign from NK. Daigo’s face reveals he won’t quit.

Flashbacks ensue; Daigo’s father’s face is always blurred, even when Daigo as a child gives a small “stone-letter” to his dad.

News comes that the long-absent father has died. Daigo doesn’t want to see him but a friend suggests he should. Daigo is shocked by his father’s sole possession: a small cardboard box of bare essentials. When funeral workers come, they handle his father crudely. Daigo stops them and personally undertakes the proper rituals. When Daigo unclenches one of his Dad’s hands he sees the “stone-letter” he had given his father resting on his palm. The face of the father now appears in focus as Daigo presses the stone-letter against pregnant Mika’s fulsome belly.

131 minutes. PG-13. Japanese with English subtitles. Available in DVD.