Title rated 4.25 out of 5 stars, based on 422 ratings(422 ratings)
DVD, 2009
Current format, DVD, 2009, Widescreen version, All copies in use.
DVD, 2009
Current format, DVD, 2009, Widescreen version, All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formats
Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and finds himself without a job. He 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. He discovers 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. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed.
From the community