Special advance premiere screening of Academy Award® film DEPARTURES

I've recently joined the twitterverse and I'm glad I did. A few weeks ago I was able to snag 2 free tickets to an special advance premiere screening of the Academy Award® film DEPARTURES. DEPARTURES, a Japanese film about a cellist turned funeral home worker, won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and after watching this movie I can see why it won.. The screenplay and cinematography are very realistic and the movie is emotionally touching. It very much deserves an Oscar,





Ok to start off I must say, if you do intend to go see this movie , WHICH OPENS EVERYWHERE FRIDAY (MAY 29, 2009) bring a box of tissues... no.. you think I'm kidding? Seriously, if you are just unable to cry for some physical reason, you will need something on hand to wipe away the tears at certain parts of this film. Not to say that DEPARTURES,is just a sad depressing film, because it really isn't but it does pull at your emotions as the story does deal with death. The main theme may center around death but it is littered with lots of comic relieves to break the monotonous and morbid-ness. If you’re infatuated with and adore the Japanese culture and lifestyle, then this movie will be a joy to sit through. I personally found the ritual preformed in the movie to be quite interesting.DEPARTURES does a great job exploring the beautiful and graceful Japanese traditional art / ritual of cleansing the bodies of the deceased to prepare them for afterlife. A unique practice many of us non-Japanese don’t ever get the chance to witness.






~PLOT~

Daigo Kobayashi(Who was pretty goodlooking, if I do say so myself..^^) is a musician, paying the cello who loses his job thus loses himself into thinking what is he ever truly good at. (I think this is something each and every person can relate to at least once in their life..wondering what they are good at). He decides to sell his cello and move back home with his wife. It is at home where
Daigo's story really begins again after finding a job as an assistant encoffin-er – a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. He is put off a this at work but his boss(who was one of my favorite characters) has faith in his abilities for the job, and soon enough Daigo learns of the meaning and beauty and precision of his craft. Now the next part is making those around him see it as well. The story goes more into Daigo's own personal history as well, but I'll save that for you guys to watch in theaters.

Departures is a film about family over all.. how death effects each family and how the families deal with those that departed. I loved how each person who died had a story, and the movie does a wonderful job showing each story through the ritual. The movie was a bit draggy towards the end, but the impact of the story will make up for the bits that seem to drag on. Overall I would rate this film an 8 out of 10It is a movie that will have you laughing, crying, and appreciating life as well as death. Please go out and see this movie and let me know what you thought. It's well worth the money to catch this in theaters.