Departures
17 June 2009, early morning
I met up with some ex-Konja members to go see Departures at Cumberland Cinema. The movie won a bunch of awards in Japan, so I was looking forward to seeing it. Like many Japanese films I’ve seen, Departures is about a fellow who does something the rest of Japanese society look upon as shameful, but by the end of the film everyone realizes what he does isn’t so shameful after all. In this case, the protagonist tends to the dead. The movie is melodramatic comedy. The girls next to me were crying for good chunks of the film, and then laughing the rest of the time. The film strikes a strange balance. (The opening scene really sets the mood for the rest of the film.) The film is quite touching at times, though i’m not sure it’s a bit too melodramatic. I liked it regardless, and I think it’s definitely worth watching. There are some very sweet moments.
There was a trailer for Tokyo Sonata before the film began, which is a film I also really want to see. I love me some depressing foreign cinema.
I saw Tokyo Sonata at some film festival. It was pretty good.
by Krishna on June 17 2009, 9:34 am #
You should see Everlasting Moments at the Bloor.
by grant on June 18 2009, 9:51 am #
Damn it, that sounds good, but I can’t go tonight. I should start a movies to watch list. And then some sort of movie watching club.
by ramanan on June 18 2009, 10:50 am #
Tokyo Sonata was played on the Air Canada flight from HK in December. kudos to AC for getting good films.
by tiff on June 22 2009, 12:48 pm #