1533 - Departures

My wife wanted to watch this in honor of Japan.  With my brother-in-law living there with his beautiful wife we've got a personal connection to the place, and so it really means nothing to anyone, but we thought this was a good a time as any to pop it into the player.  Ridiculous as it is, I've got a stack of Japanese cinema I've been meaning to watch and I might just use this as the inspiration to finally dive into it. 
My wife bought this film for her parents on a whim.  It's about a man who gets into the business of... well it's hard to explain - he's not an undertaker - I believe the correct term is 'coffiner'.  He performs a ceremony for families for the deceased.  Anyway.  It's a pretty enjoyable film.  Its got a unique tone to it where just when you think it's going to dip into melodrama it has these wonderfully light and often humorous moments.  If I have to complain about it at all I'd say that it probably could have been a little tighter, and I'm not sure I needed the voice-over.  A tad "on the nose" for my liking.  That being said it really is a lovely film and worth checking out if you're into foreign cinema at all.
Departures