Q&A: Departures

Tribeca provided a flashback to Oscar night on Tuesday as director Yôjirô Takita (fun fact: he started his career in "pink films," i.e., porn) and star Masahiro Motoki both approached the microphone to speak to an appreciative crowd. This time they weren’t accepting Departures' Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film but, as Takita noted, thrilled to be holding their first stateside Q & A.

The award-winning movie, opening in limited release on May 29, is about a cello player who loses his orchestra job and leaves the city for his hometown. After a comical misunderstanding during a job search, he discovers an affinity for an unusual line of work, preparing dead bodies for “departure.” The film’s unique topic sparked curiosity in the audience.

Why the cello, for example? It could have been any instrument given the plot. “It was the screenwriters idea to make him a cello player in part to create an organic theme,” Takita answered. “The cello originally was modeled on the female human form. You play it by embracing it -- the original human body. We were also interested in the unique timber and resonance of the cello itself.”

Some of the characters in the film seemed confused about the work Motoki’s character performs. Takita explains that this "encoffination" process is “more prevalent in the provinces that in it is the city but it is something you can order as part of your funeral services.” He added, “Actually, most Japanese are unfamiliar with the profession of encoffination as well as the ritual.” The director thanked Motoki, the leading man beside him, for the original concept: “It was his idea to make a film based on this profession.”

The rituals in the film, gracefully performed by Motoki, have real authenticity and emotional power. “The film was really driven by the research we did and experiences we had. We'd participated in actual rituals that were being performed for people who had died. It’s a very special moment in a family’s history. We really came to appreciate the nobility and the beauty and the power of this gesture.”

Had the movie sparked debate in Japan about prejudices towards those who work with the dead? Takita called this “a delicate subject matter” and one that most people still don’t want to address. “I didn’t set out to make this movie about the discrimination that exists but rather as a unique way to celebrate a life well lived by acknowledging death.” Judging by the laughter and tears in the theater, he accomplished just that.
 

Departures screens throughout the Festival.

Read more Festival Q&As.

Departures opens theatrically in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, May 29. Click here for more information about theaters.