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The Funeral

Play trailer Poster for The Funeral 1984 2h 4m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 85% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
The lives of an affluent and modern Tokyo couple (Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto) are suddenly interrupted by the death of a parent and the desire to give a suitable, traditional funeral. Easier said than done, apparently, as a number of small-scale crises keep things from going smoothly, even with the help of an extravagant priest and a how-to video cassette. Tensions rise and boundaries are pushed in this satire about the clash between modern convenience and traditional culture.

Critics Reviews

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Derek Smith Slant Magazine Itami Jûzô’s debut feature is an at once wistful and whimsical depiction of the emotions unleashed by our private and public confrontations with death. May 12, 2022 Full Review Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Movie Pulse “The Funeral” is a very easy to watch movie about how Japanese families work, particularly regarding the case of death, but also has a universal appeal due to the comments Itami makes, which extend much further than just the ones about family. Rated: 7 Sep 24, 2023 Full Review Michelle Kisner The Movie Sleuth The Funeral addresses the generational divide between old traditions and the duality of the younger cosmopolitan members who try to uphold them with their own spin on it. Sep 22, 2022 Full Review Douglas Davidson Elements of Madness Utilizing the very real customs and traditions of Japanese culture, Itami presents the public versus the private for audiences to observe within a fictional setting which incorporates various hijinks, promoting a personal rumination on life and death. May 15, 2022 Full Review Nathanael Hood Unseen Films ...a sober, gently melancholy look at an upper-middle-class family's preparation for a traditional Japanese funeral. Rated: 7/10 Apr 15, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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s r The humor here for me was few and far between. I guess I need to understand Japanese culture a bit better. I did find it good to learn about funerals in Japan and traditions there. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I was just re-watching some Juzo Itami's movies and decided to share my impressions about these classics with all my Facebook friends in order to encourage them to enjoy the art of this filmmaking master, the voice who screamed, always with a sour sense of humour, against the wrong side of his society and its more ridiculous features and contradictions. "The Funeral" was his debut as a director. It's a strange-looking story about a famous actor who must attend his father-in-law's funeral but he doesn't know how to behave in that kind of ritual, so he tries to learn from a videotape course... Not to be missed the sex scene in the forest, one of the weirdest I've ever seen... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member With this film, Itami forced his 1984 Japanese audience to reconsider some of their basic values concerning life, death, religion, and tradition in light of their nation's increase in wealth and their society's growing materialism. Obviously these themes resonate with people from all over the world, and Itami turns out the best funeral-satire film since the adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Japanese man struggles through hosting his father-in-laws funeral. Watching a modern Tokyo family struggle through a three day funeral wasn't as amusing as the premise sounded, but then I'm sure a lot of the cultural references went over my head (much as the characters themselves struggled with the etiquette). Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member freakin' loved the car and B&W montage scenes Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member A totally delightful film - precursor to "Departures," and a more entertaining movie. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Funeral

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The Funeral

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Movie Info

Synopsis The lives of an affluent and modern Tokyo couple (Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto) are suddenly interrupted by the death of a parent and the desire to give a suitable, traditional funeral. Easier said than done, apparently, as a number of small-scale crises keep things from going smoothly, even with the help of an extravagant priest and a how-to video cassette. Tensions rise and boundaries are pushed in this satire about the clash between modern convenience and traditional culture.
Director
Juzo Itami
Producer
Yasushi Tamaoki, Yutaka Okada
Screenwriter
Juzo Itami
Production Co
Itami Productions
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
Japanese
Runtime
2h 4m