I went through my hardrive again and rewatch a lot of the Japanese films I had (well I don’t have that many just yet) but I decided to write about one of the top films I’ve watched this past week.
Okuribito おくりびと Departures
Okuribito tells the story of a relatively young cello player who’s orchestra runs into financial problems and decides to sell his cello to move to the countryside to find work. He ends up becoming an encoffiner (sort of a buddhist mortician, but not just for buddhist, he prepares the make up and dresses the dead for the afterlife).
Its an interesting film which won the Academy Awards for best foreign film last year. I really suggest this film to anyone taking up any basic japanese culture course as it gives you some insight into the japanese culture and death rituals as well as the stigma between the workers in (is this the right term) death industry. The movie also has a fantastic musical score which I can probably compare to any Final Fantasy video game.
I was actually assigned to watch this film for my Theology 131 class though I think missed the day they had a discussion on this. I may not exactly understand the theological connection to Theology: Love Sex and marriage but it is a great film which makes you see the different situations of those left behind by the dead. I really liked certain scenes such as the opening scene with the dead transexual and the dead grandmother who’s grand daughter wanted her to be buried in the socks she loved so much.
If you have time to look for this film I highly suggest it.