Departures (Okuribito)

2008

131 mins

Directed by Yôjirô Takita
80%
92%
Drama
Award Winner

Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Japanese film Departures is a character study of a man who finds... More

Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Japanese film Departures is a character study of a man who finds fulfilment and a depth of human connection in the most unlikely profession.

Daigo (Masahiro), a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant. Little by little he warms to his new profession, endowing the elaborate funeral ceremonies with grace and humanity. [Source: NZ International Film Festival]

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Where to watch Departures (Okuribito)

Departures (Okuribito) is available to stream in New Zealand now... More on Google TV and Academy On Demand and AroVision.

Departures (Okuribito) | Ratings & Reviews

80_%108 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
92_%52,010 reviews
Audience score rating

"TV scribe Kundo Koyama's first bigscreen script peppers the proceedings with rich character detail and near-screwball interludes that shouldn't fit but somehow do."

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Variety

"Overlong, predictable in its plotting and utterly banal in its blending of comic whimsy and melodramatic pathos."

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The New York Times

"The movie is uncommonly absorbing."

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Roger Ebert

"To suggest that Departures could not have been made outside Japan is a tad simplistic, but it is unlikely. Perhaps in the hustle and bustle of contemporary Japan, achieving serenity through the snail's pace of a slowly evolving story is refreshing. It certainly is to these eyes."

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Otago Daily Times

"Sentimental and formulaic but polished and affecting."

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New Zealand Herald

"The film manages to be anything but dark; whimsy and sweet irony are laced throughout, a warmhearted blend that turned it into the surprise winner of 2008's Oscar for foreign-language film."

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Los Angeles Times

"Yojiro Takita, who directed enduring commercial hits like "The Ying Yang Master" and "The Yen Family," has made a popular gem -- thematically respectable, technically hard to fault, artfully scripted to entertain and touch."

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