DEPARTURES (おくりびと)

Daigo playing his childhood cello

Directed by: Yojiro Takita
Country of origin: Japan
Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki

Last night I decided to revisit Yojiro Takita's Academy Award winning drama, Departures, and tonight my eyes are still sore. Departures is a powerfully emotional film, director Takita moving his viewers through stoic cinematography and through an emphasis on his strong leads. Okuribito is a softly spoken film, relying on visual symbolism to completely convey its deep messages. A significant amount of time is taken to dwell on the faces of the film's major characters. At various times in Departures, the camera remains stable upon Daigo Kobayashi's face, perhaps motioning to the depression that he's been harboring, or to the gradual emotional progression that he undergoes during the film's duration. This stasis of the camera is a common element in the cinematography of Departures, giving the film a very somber, even existential tone.



At its heart a very human and simple film, Departures is a character study and a reminder to the viewer that life is simply what you make it. Motoki plays the lead role of Daigo, an unemployed cellist who was abandoned by his father at a early age. Over the time that we spend with him, we realize how much this absence has effected his life. The film begins on a depressing note, Daigo landing the symphony position of his dreams  and losing it after his first gig. He decides to move back to his hometown to start new. This serves as a reminder that our dreams may not always be that realistic. Director Takita frames Daigo's life very simply, seeming to accentuate the normality of it. Digging deeper, one realizes that all of the deaths and general conflicts of the supporting characters are reflections of what Daigo's life is or could be. Yojiro Takita manages to find someway to make each of the casketting scenes, or nohkan scenes, so heartbreaking. Each of the scenes seems to create a miniature subplot within themselves, introducing a series of complex characters or family conflicts. But through subtle, brief writing and strong acting, the viewer is able to understand what those families are going through. Each nohkan scene is completely different, yet so sad and happy at the same time. I found myself crying for the families who had lost their loved ones. There was always a break-down, a moment in which a family member, usually a male, just can't hold his sorrow in anymore. It's revealed in the end that each of these scenes is a foreshadow of the release that Daigo finally feels in the film's last scene. It all comes together satisfyingly well. Many call Departures a slow film, but the smooth, meditative pace in which the story is portrayed was refreshing and effective for me. Like so many Asian films, Takita stopped to dwell upon the subtle beauties of the characters and their surroundings. Departures is so successful due to strong leads and its human message, and has me crying like a baby as it all came together. A beautiful film, Yokiro Takita's Oscar winner forces the viewer to pause an appreciate life.

***** / *****

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