Departures

This Japanese film’s award for best foreign-language picture at the Oscars was a case of favouring bland sentimentality

This Japanese film’s receipt of the award for best foreign-language picture at this year’s Oscars was a case of the Academy favouring bland sentimentality. Yojiro Takita’s movie tells of a young out-of-work cellist, Daigo (Masahiro Motoki), who gets a job as a funeral attendant. His main task is dressing and applying make-up to the corpse, which, in Japan, is a ceremonial part of funeral proceedings. This may seem quite an unusual occupation for the hero of a mainstream drama, but the film’s themes are conventional: Daigo learns various life lessons and comes to terms with his father.

12A, 130 mins

Edward Porter, The Sunday Times 06-12-2009

Writers name

Edward Porter

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