Departures

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devilry
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Departures

Post by devilry »

What's the difference between a group of tourists and a bunch of dead people? Well despite being so different, it's really just one easily misspelled Japanese syllable.

This pretty much sums up my general impression of the film; while it is not exactly an epiphanic mind bomb, it discusses the niche area of encoffineering in a subtle and pleasant way..

Instead of sinking into a technical film about encoffineers or a melodrama with no practicality to it at all, Departures nicely ties all its different elements together into a palatable masterpiece, balancing the technical aspects and emotional aspects very well and this is what I personally feel is the strongest point of the film.

The emotional bits felt like your generic heart-tugging scenes that any mediocre director with suitable actors could pull off, so the film does not really get a huge plus there, but what I love is how they choose to tie the scenes back to the actual film itself and relate it to the key concepts of the film. That is a huge bonus as well.

Another thing I enjoyed about the film was their appropriate use of dark humour. Certain parts were funny, but never too comical to take your attention off the gravity of the plot.

My biggest problem was that certain bits in the middle of the film tended to get a little draggy, although it was not that big of an issue.

On overall, Departures is a fantastic film for anyone who enjoys these genres and is still a great watch for anyone who does not. It is a movie I would definitely recommend watching.

Hmm I remember Departures was introduced to me on the baseline that we would cry. Well for starters, I did not. This does not say anything about how good the film is, but perhaps it's melodramatic effect did on quite appeal to me. Either that, or I was so expectant I would end up crying that I did not.

Anyway I'll just briefly highlight the certain aspects that I really liked and the certain aspects that I felt needed improvement.

Firstly, I loved the comparison done in the film. On one hand, encoffineers are presented in the condescending eyes of others as degenerates without proper jobs. Daigo faces discrimination from his friends and even his wife, who refuses to touch him because she thinks he is dirty. All of them believe that encoffineering is an insignificant field that he should not involve himself in.

On the other hand, whenever Daigo dresses up the corpses, his movements are graceful and done so in a respectable manner. In fact, the wide variety of corpses he has to tend to brings back the idea of exactly how pertinent death is and hence, the necessity of encoffineers. The final scene in the film where the undertakers were prepared to sluggishly dump his father's corpse into the coffin also goes to show the incredible amount of expertise and determination needed to perform such a job.

They also highlight how Daigo is masterfully able to bring out the deepest emotions within the relatives of any deceased. While they are initially bottled up and tense, seeing him restore the corpse back to its former glory allows them to freely express their emotions and let loose all the sorrow. This is an indirect significance that also goes to show how respectable Daigo's job really is.

I also love the revelation of the old man at the bathhouse being a cremator towards the end of the film. Although he was always in the background, nobody ever knew much about him. The problem was always revolving around Daigo and the humiliation of having to be in touch with the dead. It was only at one of the most crucial moments in the film where it was suddenly revealed that he had a part to play in the bridge between the dead and the living as well.

I felt that it presented the pervasiveness and necessity of occupations that dealt with death in an excellent way and served to support Daigo in knowing that he was not alone. As he talked, he also described himself in a symbolic way as the gatekeeper between life and death and appeared a lot more knowledgeable than what any of us would have previously expected, showing the respectable side to his job that would have been previously unknown.

Lastly, my family had brought up comments that the film could have ended with the scene at the bathhouse and the very last scene involving Daigo's father was unnecessary and extravagant. Personally, while I regard the bathhouse scene as the climax, I still believe that the last scene added a beautiful finishing touch to the film.

It tied up many unanswered questions throughout the film and it was only through the wife's assertion that Daigo was a professional in what he did to the undertakers that we are finally able to acknowledge her concrete, newfound respect for encoffineers. It also ties back to show us what Daigo had learned from being an encoffineer and the moral values he had acquired such as forgiveness. I thought that without the ending scene, it would not allow us to appreciate Daigo's job as much.

However, with all these come things I did not like about the film.

I did not like the two different plots the film tried to run simultaneously. Firstly, they tried to run the problem of Daigo's acceptance as an encoffineer. Secondly, they tried to run the problem of Daigo's relationship towards his father.

The latter plot, to me, was plain and cliche. Even if the film makers had wanted to push it, not enough emphasis was placed on it such that this running theme only seemed to pop up as fragmented bits throughout the film instead of a nicely woven string. It ended up diverting attention away from the main plot without contributing much of its own.

Also, I felt that their ability to engage the audience needed improvement. For example, I could understand that Mika felt disguted at her realisation of Daigo's job, but I could never really bring myself down to the level where it would justify her leaving her husband. Considering how we, as the audience, are mostly shown scenes of Daigo dressing up corpses in a clean environment professionally, the efforts to allow us to see the other side of the picture to why exactly encoffineering was so deplorable were unsubstantial.

This translates into the change of heart Mika has towards the end of the film as well. It was clear she had never thought highly of encoffineers until the deceased was someone close to her. It was only through her relationship with the deceased that she finally understood dressing them up was respectable and significant.

This is a change of heart I could not follow. The film needed to go further than just bringing in a wide range of corpses for Daigo to work on. It needed to allow us to forge a certain bond with the deceased before they died so that when the grappling reality of death would finally set in, only then are we really able to put ourselves in the shoes of their relatives.

There is a big difference between telling us that 'Oh, this is a corpse whom people cared for, so it is respectable when Daigo dresses it up' and making us actually come to care for the deceased so we understand how respectable his job really is.

Thankfully, while these areas needed improvement, they were not so dire as to cripple the nature of the film.

Rating: 80/100

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