| [filmlover-l] movie this wednesday [6:30]:
Okuribito (Departures) |
Sunday, September 13, 2009
4:44:46 PM |
| From: |
tbco@mtu.edu |
| To: |
filmlover-l@mtu.edu |
Hello everyone,
This Wednesday at [6:30 pm], we are showing a Japanese film
"Okuribito (Departures)" directed by Yôjirô Takita.
(More details
below)
Hope you can join us.
Regards,
Tom Co
===================================================
Title: Okuribito (Departures)
Date and Time: September 16, Wednesday, 6:30-9pm
Place: 308 Cooper Ave, Hancock
Director: Yôjirô Takita
Partial list of Actors:
Masahiro Motoki
Tsutomu Yamazaki
Ryoko Hirosue
Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Kimiko Yo
Takashi Sasano
US Rating: PG13
Language: Japanese (with English subtitles)
Length: 130 mins
Media: DVD, color
Summary: ( via www.imdb.com )
"Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an
orchestra that has just been dissolved and
now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides
to move back to his old hometown with his wife
to look for work and start over. He answers a
classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking
it is an advertisement for a travel agency
only to discover that the job is actually
for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral
professional who prepares deceased bodies for
burial and entry into the next life..."
My Comments:
A quiet movie that explores relationships:
between parents and children, husband and
wife, teacher and student, the living and
the dead. Nicely directed and acted.
I think the movie is very straightforward
and pleasant. So it is quite relaxing and
enjoyable...( I guess we need some films
like this from time to time ). As usual
with Asian movies, it has a little dose
of melodrama.
The relationship between the main character
and his boss reminds me of the relationship
of the old doctor and young doctor in
Akira Kurosawa's "Red Beard".
The movie won the Oscars for Best Foreign
Film last year.
I wonder if the practice of "Nokanshi" is
widespread in the big cities because the
setting for the movie is a small town.
