2009 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film

Watched 3 movies within 5 days, consider a record for me as I don’t watch movie often. Wanted to watch this movie after hearing them winning the Oscar award and many people recommending it, so I took a half day leave and watched alone yesterday. This is the second Japanese movie that I watched this year after Suspect X and maybe a third one next week. Seems like I’m getting hooked with Japanese movie. ^^;

Enjoyed the music and scenery in the movie

Thought that there will not be many people in the cinema as it’s a afternoon of a working day, but it turned out that I was wrong. Queue was long and the cinema was packed with people (forgotten that school holidays had started). In the end, I had to sit at the 8th row from the back. I don’t recommend to watch at 1pm as many people tend to bring their lunch into the cinema and the smell of food can be quite disturbing.

Stone letters, an alternative if you don't have a paper to write

As usual, I’m lazy to talk about the plot of the movie. You can read the plot here. The movie shows the beautiful scenery in Japan, the nice music played from a cello, the strong bond between family members, the beauty of Japan culture, the difficulties encountered by a mortician and how people look down on the job (which is quite common among different countries and cultures). It also reminds us to treasure the ones we love before they are gone.

Ryoko Hirosue still as pretty as before

There are many humorous and touching moments in the movie which makes you laugh and cry. Sound of people weeping can be heard while watching the movie. I’m embarrassed to say that I almost shed my tears when watching the funeral of the bath’s lady boss. Not sure why, may be due to the background music and the atmosphere at that moment. This happened to me for the first time when watching a movie.

Trailer below.

Masahiro Motoki, who is the protagonist Daigo Kobayashi did a great job at bringing laughter and tears to the audience. Below is written at Wikipedia.

The film was ten years in the making, starting from an idea on the part of the lead, Motoki. The latter studied the art of ‘encoffinment’ at first hand from a mortician, and how to play a cello for the earlier parts of the movie. The director attended funeral ceremonies in order to understand the feelings of bereaved families. While death is the subject of great ceremony, as portrayed in this movie, it is also associated with great taboo in Japan, so the director was worried about the films reception and did not anticipate commercial success.

With so much effort being put into the production, no wonder they are able to win the Oscar award.

Above is the music that could be heard throughout the movie. Nice music which I enjoy listening. Below is the vocal version.

Overall, a great movie that you shouldn’t miss. The officical website here and the english version here.