Academy winning film Departures (Okuribito) to be opened nationally, May 29, 2009

 

Cultural News, 2009 May Issue

 

 

Film Departures (Okuribito) starring Masahiro Motoki as Daigo who turned to be an “encoffiner” from a professional cellist.

 

The 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Departures (Okuribito), directed by Yojiro Takita, and produced by Departures Film Partners, will be opened in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Chicago on Friday, May 29, followed by a national rollout.

 

Departures centers on Daigo (Masahiro Motoki), a cellist who suddenly becomes unemployed when his symphony orchestra in Tokyo disbands. Giving up on his dream of being a paid performer, Daigo moves back to his close-knit home town with wife Mika (Ryoko Hirosue) to reevaluate his life while staying in his late mother's home.

 

After answering a help wanted ad with hopes of a job in tourism, he instead finds himself offered a position at a company specializing in "encoffinments," the ancient Japanese art of preparing a corpse for cremation before the bereaved.

 

Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki, starring at film Tampopoin in 1985), the surly sage of an owner, convinces Daigo to take the job after dangling a large salary in front of him. In spite of the strange prospect of bathing, dressing and grooming the dead, along with fearing the reactions of his wife and the outside world, Daigo discovers a renewed joy for living through learning to care for the grieving and the deceased and unwittingly begins a journey of reconciliation with his past.

 

The comically caustic Sasaki serves as Daigo's anchor and stalwart advisor, passing the knowledge of a time-honored tradition to a new generation along with respect for the unifying finality of departure.

 

Departures also won 10 Japan Academy Prize Awards (Japanese Academy Awards) including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor.

 

During a career spanning more than two decades, filmmaker Yojiro Takita has perfected the art of blending comedy with complex subject matter and has tackled a variety of genres, a filmmaking style embodied in Departures, the first Japanese movie to win a foreign film Oscar since 1955.

 

Departures Film Partners consists of: Tokyo Broadcasting System, Sedic International, Shochiku, Dentsu, Amuse Soft Entertainment, Shogakukan, Mainichi Broadcasting System, TV-U Yamagata, and TBS Radio & Communications.

 

The official website: www.departures-themovie.com.