This movie is originally called Okuribito (おくりびと). Okuribito literally means someone who sends off. The movie is also known as "Departures".
Kobayashi Daigo (played by Motoki Masahiro) is a cellist. He works in an orchestra, but because there's no audience for a long time, the owner decided to disband the orchestra. He lost his job.
Not knowing what to do, Kobayashi decided to go back to his hometown in Yamagata. He had a house there, inherited from his mother who died several years ago. His father left him and his mother for another woman when he was still a child.
In Yamagata, Kobayashi tried to find a job. Interested with the little working hours and high salary, he came to NT Agent without knowing what kind of job it is.
He met the boss, Sasaki (played by Yamazaki Tsutomu) and the secretary Kamimura Yuriko (played by Yo Kimiko).
Later he found out that his job is to be a Noukanshi. Noukanshi is someone who does a traditional Japanese ritual to cleanse and dress the dead body before it's put inside of the coffin.
He got so many troubles because of his job, people was not respecting him because of they though he had an embarrassing and disgusting job. At first he didn't want to do this job, but later he seemed to be loving his job. He started gaining trust and respect from people around him slowly.
The movie is closed by story of the death of his father. He never wanted to see his father, who has betrayed him, but eventually he got a news that his father died and came to see his father. It's quite sad.
Watching this movie reminds me of my grandma a lot, since my grandma was passed away last month. It was my first time to see a full death ceremony, from the closing of the coffin until the cremation. It was a sad memory, especially when seeing the red fire was burning the coffin. I know it so well.
I don't think jobs related to death are embarrassing. In contrary, I even think the job related to death is so respectable, as I'm a coward and I'm so afraid of the corpse, I respect their bravery.
This movie also reminds us that everyone of us will die. Sometimes it's even harder for the one who is left behind.
It was a short story but the movie explains quite a lot of things. It got so many awards too. You can give a little bit of your time to watch this movie. I gave this movie 7 out of 10 points.
*this movie review is just my personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if there is any mistakes, feel free to make a correction*
