1) Departures follows Daigo Kobayashi, a former cellist who takes a job preparing bodies for burial after his orchestra disbands. 2) He keeps this job a secret from his wife Mika, who disapproves when she finds out. Over time, Daigo gains the respect of families by honoring the deceased. 3) The film shows Daigo preparing his own father's body after he passes. Daigo had given his father a "letter stone" as a child, and finds it in his father's hand, bringing up buried memories.

1. Point College
Title: Departures
Assignment No.: 4
Date: 02/03/2015
Name: Lee Sweet Wan
Course: Introduction to World Cinema

2. 02/03/2015
Monday
Lee SweetWan
DEPARTURES (2008)
Departures is a Japanese drama film which released in 2008 and it is directed by
Yojiro Takita and starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, and Tsutomu
Yamazaki. Loosely based on Coffinman, a memoir by Shinmon Aoki. The film
follows by a young man, Daigo Kobayashiwho is a devoted cellist in an orchestra
that has justbeen dissolved and now he can’t find a job because he think that
he’s not good enough to find another chair. He decides to move back to his
childhood housewhich is in shadow of Mt. Fuji. His wife, Mika agreed with it and
wish to live a happiness life there. He is now back to his hometown with his wife,
his mother is dead; his father left them with another woman when Daigo was 6
year old kids. He then found a job on a newspaper ads, hethinks that it is a job of
travel agency yet he found out that it’s to preparedead bodies for burial on a
ceremony in frontof the family and friends known as coffinment. The boss, Sasaki
is quietly forceful so he takes the job and he keeps it as a secretform Mika
because he strongly knows thatMika and others won’tagree with that. At the
night, he takes out a cello that he used to play when he was a kid and he found a
big stone which covered by the score. Itis given by his father as a “letter-stone”, a
stone which is said to convey the feelings through the texture on it, and you can

3. give it to whoever you want them to feels whatyou are feeling right now. He got
his firstassignmenton the next day which is to assistthe encoffinment with a
woman who died at home and discovered by two weeks later. Of coursehe feels
not comfortable with it and he even vomit. Over time, he get used to it and found
the gratitude of the families of the deceased when he experienced more. Things
go to the way as he predicted, he is subjected to prejudiceby the peoples around
him included his former classmateand his wife. They think that the job he been
working on is unclean because he touched the dead body. His wife then leaves
him and back to Tokyo. But still, he refuses to quit and keeps working with the
job.
He didn’t gone too upset when his wife not be with him. He justkeep doing his
work and sometimes playing his cello. After a few months later, his wife returns
and tell him that sheis pregnant. He feels so excited at firstbut his wife hasn’t
change her mind and keep asking him to quit the job. His phone ring at that
moment and he been telling that the owner of the bathhousewho both of them
know. ThereforeDaigo is the one who preparethe body. He earns the respect
fromall people through the ritual and Mika stop asking him to change his job.
Later, Mika receives a letter that saying Daigo’s father was deceased. They then
go to another village to see the body. Daigo got an argument with the people who
is preparing his father body with a modern way. He thinks that a traditional way is
way more respectcompare to the modern way. In addition, he wants to prepare
the body as he is his father. He finds a “letter-stone” that he gavehis father many
years before, held tight in his father’s hand. He slightly touch the face of his father
and helps him to slave the hair on his face and he called him as father one last
time.
Yojiro Takita gets the idea for Departures after having seen a funeralceremony
along the Ganges when traveling in India. He felt that the story would adapt well
to film and it did. Itwon the Academy Prize for Picture of The Year and become
the year’s highest-grossing domestic film.
In this film, the death and life are strongly showing to us. The death is showing
through the protagonists’ job which help to clean up and make up for the death
body before the burial. As the protagonist, he didn’t care whatothers say about
him but justlive his own life. He juststick with his own mind and own heart. He

4. knows that everyonedies eventually and it’s normal. But when there is a death,
there will be a life too.
Some of the scene in the film are showing when the protagonistis watching on
two salmons which in the river swimming hardly againstthe direction of the river
flows. In the meantime, there is a dead fish flowing down besides the two
salmons. The two salmons keep going against the river flows even when they
know that they will be dead perhaps. Samegoes to the protagonisthimself, he
don’t afraid or being annoyed by others but justkeep walking on his own journey.
Ittells me that no matter how hard is the situation and whatend will it leads to
but justfight for whatwe want and what makes us feel happiness.
I cried badly when watching the movie. I can’tclearly tell whatit is but it’s just
making me feels heartbroken by seeing someone dead. Mostof the movie scenes
keep showing the protagonistpreparethe dead body without any background
music. But still, it makes me feel sad. Itmight be looks bored without any
background music butI think this is what called a visual impact. I learned how the
Japanese preparethe body beforethe burial ceremony in a traditional ways
which shows full of respect to the dead body. Besides, the protagonisthimself
plays cello. There are somescenes that showing him playing the cello. I think the
sound that cello makes is the saddestsound among all of the musical instruments.
This is becauseI found that the sound of cello is very closeto a human voice and
this makes a sympathetic response. Thereforeit tears me off whenever I heard
the protagonistplaying the cello. In addition, one of the thing in the movie that
impress me a lot is the “letter-stone”. Itis like a subjectthat makes the film
connected fromthe beginning until the end. ”Letter-stone” was given to the
protagonistby his father when he was a kid. Later, his father leaves him so the
“letter-stone” and of coursethe memories are the things that his father left for
him. Besides, he didn’trealize that his father still keep the “letter-stone” with him
until he found the stone on his father’s dead body. All of the buried memories
comes out fromhis mind. I found this part really heartbroken until I can’t control
my tears. We justlive our life once so try to avoid doing something that will make
us feel regret on it.