Departures

Simply beautiful. 

Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a cellist in a orchestra that disbanded because of its small audience. Daigo  is left jobless and in debt because of the new cello that he purchased. He and his wife, Mika, (Ryoko Hirosue) decide to abandon his impossible cello dream and move on...to Daigo's mom's house (which he inherited when she died) because he is able to live there for free. The house reminds Daigo of his father who abandoned him and his mother, so the hatred comes rushing back to him. Daigo searches for a new job and stumbles upon NK Agency that wants people for departures. Daigo goes to the agency and is hired on the spot.

Boss: Will you work hard?

Daigo: Uh...yes.

Boss: You're hired.

If only it were that easy... Of course, his job comes with a twist: "departures" actually means encoffining dead bodies. Apparently, the dead are a huge taboo in Japan, so people would avoid Daigo like the plague if they find out about his job. To hide this from his wife, Daigo goes to a public bath to wash off the dead-body-stench and tells Mika that his new job involves "ceremonies" (like weddings). Eventually, Mika finds out and moves out of the house. His neighbors find out and avoid him. Daigo refuses to give up his job, though. He is proud of it and finds it rewarding. 

Departures was stunning. I don't think I cried this much for any other movie. Yes, death is a grim situation, but Departures puts it in a different light. Death could be happy and filled with love for the lost. Sometimes, I realized that I wasn't crying because someone died; I was crying because it was so beautiful and happy (I know that sounds corny, but if you watched the movie, you might know what I'm talking about). The encoffiner is also brought to light as a highly respectable job and super satisfying. Departures plays with the meaning of fate. Sometimes, you're so caught up with chasing a dream that you don't realize that you can dream a different dream.
The acting was superb. I loved every one of the characters because they were all so rich and had so much depth to them. They all had their own stories to tell and reasons behind their actions. Masahiro Motoki as Daigo was a great fit. He was funny at times to make the seriousness of death not so heavy.


And...I loved the music. Joe Hisaishi does it again. 

Let the Movies Begin! Tokyo Sonata

This movie is all about secrets. No, not this kind of Secret... Tokyo Sonata shows one ordinary family that is a family by blood, but they are strangers to each other. This family spirals down out of control when the father, Ryûhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa), is fired from his office job. He decides to keep his unemployment a secret, but his wife, Megumi Sasaki (Kyôko Koizumi), eventually finds out. The secrets that Megumi keeps are well kept, but they hurt her as the pressure builds. Ryûhei's secret spreads misery to himself and his family as he detaches himself from the people around him. In order to keep his authority in the Japanese family, he objects to the accomplishments of his sons: Kenji (Inowaki Kai) wants to enroll in piano lessons and Takashi (Yû Koyanagi) wants to join the military. Each of the family members go through different adventures that make them stronger.

Tokyo Sonata was empowering. Although there isn't much action (for the first half, at least), every moment is intense. The depression and feelings of hopelessness take jabs at you when you connect with each character. The movie takes takes the time to thoroughly introduce the audience to every character and to get a good idea of what they're thinking. I thought the piano teacher wasn't developed that well, but she's just a minor character. The story is beautiful and surprisingly realistic in terms of unemployment and depression. The second half of the movie has a turn in the plot--a little strange, but it's um...interesting? strange. The open-ending was a little abrupt, but you gotta love that piano solo.