Departures Film Review

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10/26/2009

Benjamin Ciccarone

The evanescent title of Departures, in a word, regroups all elements within, catapulting the viewer towards the climax of various themes and variations of epic proportion. The word “departures” is used by the director as a blanket, as a wide and sweeping brush stroke, as a morbid thread weaving in and out of the protagonist’s journey through a world he earnestly seeks to understand. Moreover, Daigo searches for the truth, and as the film progresses he begins to quest habitually thereafter – and all the while, he begins to discover that forgiveness is inseparable from happiness. As previously noted, this film is an epic. It is first an epic in terms of the multitudes of genres therein: It can be simultaneously a comedy, a romance, a satire, an adventure, a drama, and cannot be singularly exclusive to any one particular genre. This film surpasses the term genre, and is therefore an epic of epic proportions indeed, especially where father and son relationships are concerned. We also see the importance of rocks used to symbolize emotions. However vital dialogue can be with regard to popular movies, it is music that creates unity in this film. The dialogue and the scenery function as contrasting elements which push the plot forward chronologically. The irony in this film is strikingly evident: the protagonist finds pleasure by carrying out duties reserved for the lowest class in Japanese society – further, his job (Encoffineer) is looked upon by his contemporaries as intrinsically unclean, filthy, and highly undesirable. “Encoffineering” or Nokanshi involves the presentation and preparation of the deceased prior to being placed in a coffin to await either cremation or internment. Daigo’s transformation in terms of his vocation from a Cellist to a Nokanshi is comedic in how he adapts (or doesn’t) to all the curveballs thrown his way. His wife Mika is just the sweetest human being imaginable! It is the patient and understanding qualities of her character that give rise to his unhurried emotional development and resolution. About a third into this film Daigo has a conversation with an old man while he leans against a bridge overlooking a rather wide stream teeming with salmon fighting to swim upstream. The salmon that do not finish the journey float atop the surface, drifting aimlessly, being casually carried by a perhaps indifferent current. At first, he ponders to himself, then an older man approaches him saying: Old man: [to some salmon] Go! Go! Daigo Kobayashi: Sad, isn’t it. Coming all this way just to die. It doesn’t seem worth it. Old man: They want to come home. Back to where they were born. This film will take the viewer on a journey, and further, an adventure through which the world remains unchanged – while its people have been indeed.