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      Departures

      PG-13 Released May 29, 2009 2h 10m Drama List
      80% Tomatometer 108 Reviews 92% Audience Score 50,000+ Ratings Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) learns that his orchestra is disbanding. Daigo and his wife move back to his hometown in northern Japan, where he answers an ad for what he thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary. As he learns and carries out the rituals used in preparing the dead for their final rest, Daigo finds his true calling in life. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Sep 28 Buy Now

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      Critics Consensus

      If slow and predictable, Departures is a quiet, life affirming story.

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      Critics Reviews

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      Tony Rayns Film Comment Magazine The scripting of Departures (by Kundo Koyama, the one-man TV-drama writing factory who nurtured such delights as Iron Chef) is embarrassingly clunky and obvious: the movie's essential hollowness reveals itself with unusual starkness. Nov 17, 2013 Full Review Joshua Rothkopf Time Out Rated: 3/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Philip De Semlyen Empire Magazine Heart-warming, funny, wise and profound. Not to be missed. Rated: 5/5 Dec 4, 2009 Full Review Mattie Lucas From the Front Row A charming, winning piece of filmmaking that, while in no way deserving of the title of Best Foreign Language film of this or any year, is a heartwarming and bittersweet tale that hits all the right notes. Rated: 3/4 Aug 5, 2019 Full Review Antonio Sison National Catholic Reporter In "Departures, life and death are two expressive movements of one musical" piece. Neither is taken as a polar opposite of the other; they dance rhythmically, like the ebb and flow of the ocean tide. May 1, 2019 Full Review Kelly Jane Torrance Washington Times All three actors are skilled in communicating difficult emotions just with their faces and in bringing to life the gentle humor that leavens this very affecting movie about death and letting go. Rated: 3.5/4 Dec 6, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Bernard N In returning back where he came from, Daigo Kabayashi is as lost as Professor David Lurie from J. M. Coetzee's novel, Disgrace (1999). One might argue that the Professor is responsible for his own disgraceful homecoming, but such a person would have to be reminded of fate's brutality, that what the leg that will be broken will be broken. There is no more escape for the professor than there is for Daigo, a cellist who has to go back home when his orchestra is disbanded, even before he has paid off the expensive cello he just got. The thing that connects these two so strongly is the new "vocations" each one finds in his own wasted dreams: the professor has his sick dogs, and we're not so sure he cares that much about his work on Byron. Daigo finds his dead, and the cello is now just a hobby. And perhaps because he doesn't care about an audience anymore, he becomes an artist by departing from that stiff professionalism that had driven him to buty the expensive cello in the first place. In a way, his new "art" is the key to that childish fascination that is the mark of the true artist, and with the audience gone so goes the cares and so enters the true artist. Yet in this great transfomation, or metamorphosis, is weaved the metamorphoses of others, so that the movie is more than a portrait. It is a symphonic masterpiece, and Daigo is happy if happiness exist, even though the path to that happiness has wiped the smile perhaps entirely from his face. At the end, I thought I saw in his cheeckbones the cheekbones of Kafka, but that might be an optical illusion. They do look alike if you ask me. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/28/23 Full Review dave s A cellist living in Tokyo, Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) is forced to return to his hometown when funding is pulled from his orchestra. Unbeknownst to his wife, he accepts a position that involves preparing the deceased for their final departure, leading him to reevaluate his life and, perhaps more importantly, his relationships with those around him. Departures is a languid, meditative film, meticulously directed and beautifully shot – every shot is perfectly framed and expertly blocked. The characters all resonate in some way, regardless of their views on Daigo's profession or their own responses to death. It is a moving and impactful film that, despite the subject matter, is never overly sentimental or maudlin. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review jean-pol c A wonderful film with incredibly good and beautiful feelings that make your heart move, so beautiful and extremely well acted. Great cinema. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member One of my favorite movies, beautiful and real. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review william d Departures loses its sense of humor about halfway through and turns a little sappy. However, I liked the movie very much and recommend it. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member It's a wonderful movie about death. The only fly in the ointment is that it never tells why Daigo's father left him and his mother. It would be great if the movie had focused a little bit more about this. I really love Shokichi's line "I'm good at burning things." when he prepare to cremate Tsuyako. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) learns that his orchestra is disbanding. Daigo and his wife move back to his hometown in northern Japan, where he answers an ad for what he thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary. As he learns and carries out the rituals used in preparing the dead for their final rest, Daigo finds his true calling in life.
      Director
      Yojiro Takita
      Screenwriter
      Kundo Koyama
      Distributor
      Regent Releasing
      Production Co
      Shochiku
      Rating
      PG-13 (Thematic Material)
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      Japanese
      Release Date (Theaters)
      May 29, 2009, Limited
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Dec 22, 2016
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $1.5M
      Runtime
      2h 10m
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