Departures
Short description
Daigo Kobayashi is a cellist who returns to his rural hometown with his wife after losing his position in an orchestra. While searching for work, he applies for a role at a company he believes is a travel agency, only to discover that the business specializes in funeral services. Despite the social stigma surrounding the preparation of the deceased, Daigo accepts the position due to financial pressure and eventually finds a new sense of purpose in the profession.
Directed by Yojiro Takita, this drama is the fifth film in his career, following When the Last Sword Is Drawn and preceding The Last Recipe. The screenplay was written by Kundo Koyama. The movie stars Masahiro Motoki as Daigo, with Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kimiko Yo, Tetta Sugimoto, and Tōru Minegishi in supporting roles. The production involved companies including Shochiku, dentsu, MBS, and The Asahi Shimbun.
The film earned 70 million USD at the worldwide box office. It is well-received by audiences, holding an 8/10 rating on IMDb from 54,261 votes and a 7.8/10 rating on TMDB from 962 votes. These viewer scores are higher than the film critics' rating of 7.1/10 based on 108 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- Director Yojiro Takita attended funerals to better understand the feelings of people who had lost loved ones. Tsutomu Yamazaki, who played the funeral home owner, had never participated in training sessions teaching the procedure of positioning a body in a coffin.
- Masahiro Motoki had to learn to play the cello.
- The filmmakers spent a considerable amount of time finding extras for the scenes in the funeral home who could lie completely still. However, the search for a body double for the bathhouse owner Tsuyako Yamashita proved fruitless. In the end, they had to use digital technology and overlay the image of actress Kazuko Siyuki onto the footage of the funeral scene.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
