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| Content | | | | Departures (2008) | Director: Yojiro Takita
Starring: Masahiro Motoki
Daigo Kobayashi 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 look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life.
Daigo soon has to realize that his well-paid job does not enjoy prestige. His friends and his wife put pressure on him to quit. But Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of "Nokanshi," acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. His elegance and perfection restore the dignity of the departed and become a treasured gift of last memories for the families.
His work even helps Daigo to overcome his own drama in his relationship with his father. This part of the story would not have been necessary to improve the movie, however, it also does not diminish the beauty of the story and the consolation that "Nokanshi" provides.
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