"Departures," a cinematic jewel
Many films today are like fireworks display, fun to watch, but quickly forgotten. "Departures," however, offers no flashes or special effects. It goes straight to the dilemma all of us face in our lives: how to make the most of the time we live. Note, this is a film for grownups. The protagonist, his career as a classical cellist derailed through no fault of his own, takes his young wife and leaves Tokyo for rural life in his birthplace of Yamagata. By pure chance, he is hired on his first interview for a job advertised as "Departures," which he thinks involves travel. However, he soon learns that the ad was supposed to read "departed," and that he will be schooled in the ceremonial washing, dressing, and applying of cosmetics to the dead. Despite his fears and doubts and the strong opposition of his boyhood friend and wife about his pursuing such "low" work, he finds nobility and purpose in his new profession, which becomes his road to a full and purposeful life.