Went to watch the Japanese movie "Departures" today at GV.
I had heard some rather good reviews about this "death" movie. About how it was almost full house on weekdays afternoons when most movies play to empty halls. Heard about the laughter in the first part of the movie and the tears of the audience that flowed towards the end of the movie.
And I was truly intrigued! I really wanted to see people walking out of cinemas, eyes red, crying after a movie. That I have never seen!
So I dragged SO, who normally dun like foreign films, to the cinemas. Not our usual chain of movie theatres, which offered a 50% discount on the 2nd movie ticket on Sunday, simply by flashing our handphone operator logo.
We paid for 2 full price weekend tickets! And that's a rarity! That's how much we wanted to watch this movie!
"Departures" was truly one of the best shows I have seen this year ...so far. Even better than "Push" of 2 weeks ago or even "Watchmen" last week. Those were 2 truly boring movies!
Frankly, the story of the "Departures" was so simple and there were no great special effects or drama. The movie captured the audience with the subject of death.
This musician, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) became unemployed after the symphony orchestra he was working for, disbanded. So he moved back to his hometown with his wife.
There he cluelessly took on the job of that of the ceremonial “encoffination” (is there even such a word?) of corpses prior to cremation.
And from there and then Daigo developed "a deep respect for life in all its variations, and a profound empathy for people trying to make peace with the finality of death". (as quoted from the official movie website)
There was this scene in the movie where an old lady was about to be cremated and her adult son wanted to watch his mother's cremation. And as she was cremated in the furnace (not actually shown), the son was crying and calling out to his mother.
I turned to my side and I saw SO crying. Softly. Eyes red, trying to control his tears. And I am sure that quite a few audience in the cinema were tearing softly too. That's how emotional it was.
Well, as for me, yeah, I did felt the sadness and there were times when I was very near to tears. Especially when the living bade farewell to the dead. But I held myself back. It was difficult.
It was a really touching movie, worthy of the Oscar foreign film award 2009. The show had its great moments of brilliance, comic and sadness and at about 2 hours and 30 mins (150 mins total) felt just right.
And when the movie finally ended, well, the audience seemed reluctant to leave.
Normally when movies ended, audience would just rushed out. But not for this movie.
We were only of those who left after the end credits rolled for about 3 minutes. I think that quite a few of the audience were too embarrassed to be seen with red eyes and eyes tearing. So as the final credits rolled, they just sat there, trying to get over a hold over themselves.
After the movie, I confronted SO about his tears and that Bitch simply denied it. He simply refused to talk about it. He said it never happened. He claimed that he never cried. And then he gave a sheepish, guilty laugh.
Well, I am sure the movie touched quite a few people.
To me, it's sad, but not that sad. But yet, this is one of the sadder movies I have watched so far. I think few movies are this sad. But for a movie, dealing with the sensitive subject of death, sadness and tears are to be expected. All of us can identified with Death.
After all, all of us have to die some time or another. No one is truly immortal. And I am sure, we all knew someone who had passed away, be it a friend, a family, a relative or someone we know etc.
I rate this movie a 8.5 out of 10! A must watch! Especially when there is this surge of stupid movies this time of the year like "Street fighter - Chun li" and "Dragon ball revolution".
And when "Departures" the VCD or DVD comes out, I am going to get my hands on a copy.
I had heard some rather good reviews about this "death" movie. About how it was almost full house on weekdays afternoons when most movies play to empty halls. Heard about the laughter in the first part of the movie and the tears of the audience that flowed towards the end of the movie.
And I was truly intrigued! I really wanted to see people walking out of cinemas, eyes red, crying after a movie. That I have never seen!
So I dragged SO, who normally dun like foreign films, to the cinemas. Not our usual chain of movie theatres, which offered a 50% discount on the 2nd movie ticket on Sunday, simply by flashing our handphone operator logo.
We paid for 2 full price weekend tickets! And that's a rarity! That's how much we wanted to watch this movie!
"Departures" was truly one of the best shows I have seen this year ...so far. Even better than "Push" of 2 weeks ago or even "Watchmen" last week. Those were 2 truly boring movies!
Frankly, the story of the "Departures" was so simple and there were no great special effects or drama. The movie captured the audience with the subject of death.
This musician, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) became unemployed after the symphony orchestra he was working for, disbanded. So he moved back to his hometown with his wife.
There he cluelessly took on the job of that of the ceremonial “encoffination” (is there even such a word?) of corpses prior to cremation.
And from there and then Daigo developed "a deep respect for life in all its variations, and a profound empathy for people trying to make peace with the finality of death". (as quoted from the official movie website)
There was this scene in the movie where an old lady was about to be cremated and her adult son wanted to watch his mother's cremation. And as she was cremated in the furnace (not actually shown), the son was crying and calling out to his mother.
I turned to my side and I saw SO crying. Softly. Eyes red, trying to control his tears. And I am sure that quite a few audience in the cinema were tearing softly too. That's how emotional it was.
Well, as for me, yeah, I did felt the sadness and there were times when I was very near to tears. Especially when the living bade farewell to the dead. But I held myself back. It was difficult.
It was a really touching movie, worthy of the Oscar foreign film award 2009. The show had its great moments of brilliance, comic and sadness and at about 2 hours and 30 mins (150 mins total) felt just right.
And when the movie finally ended, well, the audience seemed reluctant to leave.
Normally when movies ended, audience would just rushed out. But not for this movie.
We were only of those who left after the end credits rolled for about 3 minutes. I think that quite a few of the audience were too embarrassed to be seen with red eyes and eyes tearing. So as the final credits rolled, they just sat there, trying to get over a hold over themselves.
After the movie, I confronted SO about his tears and that Bitch simply denied it. He simply refused to talk about it. He said it never happened. He claimed that he never cried. And then he gave a sheepish, guilty laugh.
Well, I am sure the movie touched quite a few people.
To me, it's sad, but not that sad. But yet, this is one of the sadder movies I have watched so far. I think few movies are this sad. But for a movie, dealing with the sensitive subject of death, sadness and tears are to be expected. All of us can identified with Death.
After all, all of us have to die some time or another. No one is truly immortal. And I am sure, we all knew someone who had passed away, be it a friend, a family, a relative or someone we know etc.
I rate this movie a 8.5 out of 10! A must watch! Especially when there is this surge of stupid movies this time of the year like "Street fighter - Chun li" and "Dragon ball revolution".
And when "Departures" the VCD or DVD comes out, I am going to get my hands on a copy.
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