Departures (Okuribito) (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Four Madman Trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	125:19 (Case: 131)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (65:59)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Yôjirô Takita
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Masahiro Motoki Tsutomu Yamazaki Ryoko Hirosue Kazuko Yoshiyuki Kimiko Yo Takashi Sasano Tetta Sugimoto Tôru Minegishi Tatsuo Yamada Yukari Tachibana Tarô Ishida Sanae Miyata Ryôsuke Ohtani
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Joe Hisaishi

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, in the credits we see preparation for a funeral

    Kabayashi Daigo (Motoki Masahiro) is a cellist who is devoted to his passion, hoping to become known for his talent, playing in a symphony orchestra. Unfortunately, the cost of maintaining that symphony orchestra leads to its disbanding after it fails to attract audiences. As a result, Kabayashi decides to sell up and move back to his hometown of Sakata (with his wife Mika, payed by Ryoko Hirosue) to live in a country residence his mother left him in her will 2 years prior when she passed away. He comes to the realisation that he is never going to become a great cellist anyway, and after his wife learns that he spent 18 million yen on the instrument (that's $AU217000 at the current 2010 exchange rate!) he sells his instrument to recover his debts, having accepted that he will take any job on offer when he arrives in Sakata. It's the job offer Kabayashi finds in the local newspaper when he settles that makes the premise of this film come to life. Having thought that the ad mentions 'departures' as a reference to travel agency work, he is shocked to learn that 'departures' was a misprint, rather it should read 'assisting the departed', not 'assisting the departures' (huge difference!).

    For western audiences accepting employment in a funeral parlour to make ends meet can be justified; after all, what if you have to make ends meet and you have no other choice? In Japanese society, where death is a taboo subject and coming into contact with dead bodies is dishonourable, the acceptance of the job brings problems into Kabayashi's life. Firstly, the townsfolk begin to realise what he does for work and finally his wife does, after she initially thinks he took a job with a wedding ceremonies planner. People close to Kabayashi despise his profession, but he comes to realise the dignity in his work and its importance as a community service, and thus he begins to take pride in his work.

    The Japanese cultural attitude towards death is so pervasive in its society that, until recently, it was thought that patients with terminal illnesses should be spared the indignity of being told of their fateful diagnosis by their doctor. This is certainly the case in Akira Kurosawa's classic 1952 film on the subject of death and the value of life, Ikiru (which means literally 'to live'). The subject matter of Departures is not presented as sad and depressing, rather there are funny moments in it, such as the encoffinment demonstration video and the comical opening scene which is shown again later in the film (and which makes more sense once the characters are established). The tone of the film is similar to another Academy Award winner for best foreign language film, Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful. Both films have humorous first acts and gripping, sad final acts. Perhaps this is why both films won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in 1998 and 2009 respectively; it seems the formula that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences favours. Personally, after reviewing Waltz with Bashir, I can't help but feel that that film should have taken out the Foreign Language Oscar, although Departures is still a fine film and deserving of its accolades.

Video

    There are natural scenes of Sakata's countryside which are breathtaking. The shots of the town during winter are especially well done.

    The aspect ratio of the film is 1:85:1, 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

    The main presentation takes up 4.9 gb on the disc. The average bitrate therefore is 5.33 m/b per sec, which is a little below average for a film that is over 2 hours long. Having stated this however, there are very few scenes shot in the evening or with low-level light. The average bitrate rarely falls below 4 m/b per sec throughout the film. Despite the bitrate, there are no significant compression issues with the transfer, although at times there is evidence of some low level noise in some scenes and long-distance nature shots lack sharpness.

    Due to the subject matter of Departures the colour scheme of the film is predominately black and brown. Most scenes contain these dominant colours. White is also another colour theme used in the film.

    There are no film artefacts present in the video transfer.

    Subtitles are in plain yellow and are easy to follow.

    The RSDL change occurs at 65:59, during a scene transition.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Joe Hisaishi contributed the film score which makes use of the cello as the main instrument. He is famous for composing film soundtracks for Studio Ghibli animated films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Ponyo. His musical style is distinctive, his contemporary film score for Buster Keaton's 1927 classic, The General sounds similar to his previous soundtracks in terms of tempo and instrumentation.

    There are two audio tracks. They are both in Japanese. One track is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track encoded at 448 kbps, the other is a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 kbps. Both soundtracks are vibrant; the difference between them is that the Dolby Digital 5.1 track spreads the orchestral score towards the back speakers.

    Dialogue is clear and synchronised.

    As mentioned, Joe Hisaishi uses the cello to evoke a wide array of emotions for the audience.

    Surround Channel Usage separates the dialogue to the front speakers and the film's orchestral score to the back speakers.

    The Subwoofer is not really emphasised on the soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer

    The only extra is the film's theatrical trailer which is 1:51 long and 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

Madman Trailers

    Madman includes trailers for Balibo, Man on Wire, Lemon Tree and The Visitor.

    Departures was first released in Region 3 in Hong Kong as a two-disc release. It includes a 33 minute "Making Of" documentary, a 13 minute "Uncut Encoffinment" deleted scene and subtitles in Chinese and English.

    The Region 1 United States release includes the solitary extra of an 11 minute interview with director Takita Yojiro.

    As the Region 4 release is barebones in relation to these two releases, the best available version of Departures on DVD is the Region 3 version due to the documentary unavailable on other releases and the inclusion of English subtitles.

    Departures is funny, sad and thought-provoking, a combination of emotions not found in many contemporary films. It is also a unique film in its theme which won ten Japan Academy Prize Awards in 2009 including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay.

    Be warned, have a box of Kleenex tissues handy when you see this film, you'll need them! I would recommend enjoying the scenic cinematography after the second or third viewing as you'll find yourself hopelessly enthralled in Kabayashi's journey for meaning in his life the first time around.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall