Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue
Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) 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...( read more
)
Stats: 1,260 reviews
"The gift of last memories"
A newly unemployed cellist takes a job preparing the dead for funerals.REVIEW
Fixating itself on the pretext of death as a strong stigma to the Japanese rather than...( read more)
This is a really nice, very very Japanese movie. I was so glad that I brought my mum. The story is fairly simple, but the great acting, writing and backstories add new depths and dimensions to this film. This film will leave you with a series of really poignant snapshots: the han...( read more)
This is how I like my movies, a perfect blend of humour and drama.
And enough room for your own reflections while watching it.
Beautiful, a definite must see!!!...( read more)
Fully deserving of it's Academy Award. Departures begins with an original, funny and moving scene. It captures the perfect tone of the film and also sums up the awkward work these men undertake. It soon turns into a character study of a man who gives up his dream and stumbles int...( read more)
Perhaps since this just won the Oscar I was expecting more, but I gots to tell you, this film didn't really do it for me. It's nice, but I'm used to Japanese films that are very subtle, so this one seemed so over the top. Swooning orchestral moments and predictable outcomes one...( read more)
Nothing is more sad and yet so beatiful as a funeral. Something that this movie depicts in a touching, slow-paced way. A film about loss, loneliness, taking pride in ones work, and of course about love. Very beautifull love story even thou its not in center of the plotline. Bonus...( read more)
Los oscares no se equivocaron a galardonar a esta pelicula, como la mejor extranjera.
Es la historia de Daigo, un violoncelista que forma parte de una sinfonica, pero cuando esta se disuelve, su vida da un giro de 180 grados. No solo decide dejar de tocar el violonchelo, sino que...( read more)
Masahiro Motoki's acting was simply brilliant. This movie was both hilarious and heart-wrenching. Gotta watch it to understand. That said, the actress that acts as Masahiro Motoki's wife (Ryoko Hirosue) was terrible. Her acting was so stiff it was painful to watch. Thankfully Mas...( read more)
At times excessively maudlin (the director wants tears to be shed) and overacted, this film is still worth checking out.
One of the most shameless examples of emotional manipulation I've seen -- and one of the most effective. full review
This Oscar winning film about death is actually a joyous hymn to life. full review
Though events unravel predictably, the film is profoundly affecting, thanks to a well-written story, rich characters and superlative acting. full review
Overlong, predictable in its plotting and utterly banal in its blending of comic whimsy and melodramatic pathos. full review
Multiplexes are crowded with noisy summer films, from which Departures will represent a sophisticated and elegant departure. full review
The plot involves some developments we can see coming, but they seem natural, inevitable. The music is lush and sentimental in a subdued way, the cinematography is perfectly framed and evocative, and ... full review
The sweeping music and bucolic landscape serve to heap on the emotion to Takita's already heavy-handed manipulation. full review
Departures needed a little more work in the morgue -- like cutting to the bone. full review
Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.
