Okuribito

Released as Depatures in America, Okuribito, was this year’s Academy Award winner for best foreign language film and rightly so. The film follows Daigo Kobayashi and his wife Mika Kobayashi as their lives change and their outlooks on life shift as a result. As you may suspect of a Japenese film in Japanese, the movie takes place in Japan and has been expectionally received in Japan as well as the rest of the world.

Daigo is a cellist who has spent his life pursuing the goal of playing in an orchestra only to find that he does not have the exceptional talent necessary. Thus when the orchestra he was a part of disbands he is forced to find a new job. In debt for his expensive cello and unable to afford the apartment where they live in Tokyo, Daigo and Mika movie to Daigo’s family home in a small suburban town. Still unable to find a job and without much professional training Daigo begins searching the newspapers for jobs and is ecstatic when he comes across a well paying job that can hire instantly and requires no training. The advertisement lists the job as “Departures” and Daigo naturally assumes this to mean a travel agency of some sort. Upon arriving at the listed address Daigo soon finds out that the job actually entails encoffining. Similar to an undertaker, an encoffiner is responsible for preparing the deceased for their journey to the afterlife and performs a detailed and precise ceremony to do so. Daigo struggles with the idea of a job where he has to work with dead bodies and struggles with the social repercussions of having such a job despite his innate talent and respect for the job. Alongside Daigo throughout this, his wife Mika is incredibly supportive and offers no window into her true feelings. However, upon finding out that Daigo has been working such a job instead of the “Ceremonies” job he told her her feelings finally shine true. Understandably upset at his deceit, Mika is also outraged that Daigo would have kept a job that made him unclean. There is of course more going on and a very nice ending, but I recommend you watch the film to learn what it is instead of reading it here.

This movie is just superb in giving a believable and relatable feel to a plot that is anything but. The cinematography and visual beauty of this film is undeniable as we move from one setting to the next. Mirrored in this beauty is the beauty of Daigo and Mika’s relationship as they endure difficulty and problems that few other couples encounter in the same way. The themes of family, tradition, social values, and respect run very deep in the story and are applicable to any nationality. The movie can feel long at times but keeps showing such moments of powerful emotion that you cannot help but be captivated the entire time. I recommend you all go see it especially if you like foreign film as this doesn’t really fit into any one American genre.