We mentioned previously that non-Hollywood films dominated the Oscars this year. It’s perhaps fitting, then, that the Best Foreign Film Oscar should go to a film that none of the Hollywood pundits had anticipated. The frontrunners for the Oscar were clearly France’s The Class (last year’s Palme D’Or Winner at Cannes - it had enjoyed a short run in US theatres, as well) and the animated Israeli documentary Waltz with Bashir. But the film that ultimately took the Oscar (riding a strange wave of acclaim after winning the audience award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival) was Japan’s official entry Departures (referred to from here on, with respect, as Okuribito).

The film stars eccentric Japanese heart-throb Masahiro Motoki as Daigo, a cellist who finds himself adrift after his orchestra shuts down. The only job available to him is work preparing corpses for funerals, and though he is initially repulsed by the work, he experiences a spiritual awakening as he grows more involved in it.

Apparently Motoki conceived the film ten years ago, and studied both funerary practices and cello to prepare for the film. From the footage I’ve seen it sure looks and feels like a labor of love, and comes by its spirituality (and its honors) honestly. Okuribito is directed by veteran director Yōjirō Takita, a filmmaker who followed the now-familiar path from apprenticeship in Japan’s adult film to mainstream and genre films. (Sidebar: how great is it that the director of PINK PHYSICAL EXAMINATION and HIGH NOON RIPPER snagged an Oscar on Sunday?)

After a near-sweep of the Japan Academy Awards, Okuribito made a run of several film festivals up to its Oscar win. Okuribito’s set for a wide release in the coming months. The film’s international site is here. Meanwhile, a rough trailer has wound up on YouTube, and you’ll find it below.

In the meantime, those hungry for a quality Japanese film balancing spirituality and a gentle humanism need look no farther than Afterlife, by Hirokazu Koreeda. The films will no doubt make a fine double feature: as Okubirito looks at our preparations for the final moments, Afterlife posits what’ll go down in the moments after. It’s available on Jaman, and certainly worth your time. Enjoy!

Afterlife

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 6:41 pm and is filed under David, Academy Awards 2009, Bloggers, Filmmakers!, Films on Fire, Look! New!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.