Departures/おくりびと

Got to thank Shu for watching with me, must be hard catching a 9.30 show after a long day at work.

Yes, about the movie. It is simply fantastic. If 'The legend of Chun-Li' or 'Dragonball Evolution' represent a wastage of 90min of our lives, 'Departures' is a way to gain back the time that we have because we can get so much insight in that 130min of dense, yet light-hearted drama.

Kobayashi Daigo had probably continued even when Mika threatened to leave him because he found a father-figure in the 社長, even though implicitly and explicitly, it was about his realisation on the importance of the job.

Nevertheless, the movie is full of the simple Japanese humour: The mis-print of 旅たちの手伝い (assistance on the embarkation of a journey) to 旅の手伝い (assistance on a travel), the realisation that it wasn't a travel agency, being called up in the middle of the night, etc. They are all so REAL. There was no one single scene that was redundant and we could both smile and tear on the same picture frame. The single excerpt on Daigo working on an オカマ at the beginning of the movie was also timely, it was simply heart-warming and heart-wrenching and gave a strong message that death is natural and that we should as much as possible, do what we can while we're still alive to minimize the regrets upon death.

There was no need or perhaps, no room for the conflict of religion to come into the movie. The Undertaker/Embalmer is a noble profession. After this movie, I do want to get married and be supported by a wonderful wife (lol). If I have to name a person who'll be as supportive and wonderful as Mika in the movie, I guess she'd be 真理奈. Well, no regrets, no time for regrets.