The biggest problem with Yōjirō Takita's Departures is probably how utterly predictable it is. After all, this is a film where the main character jumping (wrongly) to conclusions leads him to a life-changing epiphany he never expected, yet it's so ruthlessly put together nothing ever surprises. Nearly every pivotal moment is exactly what it seems.
Masahiro Motoki (The Bird People In China) plays Daigo Kobayashi, a cellist for a small orchestra who's just moved back to his home town after being made redundant. Struggling to find a job outside the big city, Daigo comes across a tiny classified ad for help wanted - the wording's a little ambiguous, but it seems to be something to do with travelling. Holiday bookings, perhaps?
But when Daigo chases up the ad, he finds 'departures' means leaving this world for the next. Ikuei Sasaki, the town encoffiner (veteran character actor Tsutomu Yamazaki) is after an apprentice, someone to help him beautify the recently deceased before their relatives say their last goodbyes. Initially, Daigo's repulsed; he only stays after Ikuei practically bullies him into taking the position - but something prompts him to stick with it.
It's a well-worn formula, with the lead consumed by self-pity and general ennui finding hope in the unlikeliest places, and Takita milks it for all it's worth. From the moment we learn Daigo's parents are both dead and how - his father abandoned him, his mother raised him by herself - it's grindingly obvious he's going to have to learn to let go, just as he's helping others to do the same.
No theme is too didactic, no lesson too trite; Daigo's apprenticeship is a case of ticking off boxes on a list. A decomposing customer - harsh introduction to the underlying realities of the trade. A case of mistaken identity (in more ways than one) - family ties lead people to repress their prejudices. He struggles to continue in the face of society's disapproval - perseverance and dedication wins out in the end.
All of these are perfectly valid subjects for narrative cinema, simplistic or otherwise, but Kundo Koyama's script treats them with so little subtlety they never come off as anything more than coldly cynical narrative tools. The cast try their best, but they're each stymied by dialogue that ranges from above average at best down to tepid monologues that don't feel remotely plausible.
Masahiro Motoki has done far better work than this - witness the vastly under-rated The Longest Night in Shanghai - but all his efforts can't save a finale that's both telegraphed a mile off and goes on for far too long. Ryoko Hirosue (Goemon, Hana and Alice, Secret) fares even worse as Daigo's wife Mika; cultural values aside, her rejection of her husband's new career as written is the worst kind of knee-jerk cartoon revulsion imaginable. Why would anyone root for the two of them to get back together after this? Why wouldn't Daigo say something? Whatever subtext Koyama thought he was going for, however the viewer chooses to read Ryoko's performance it still feels as if something critical's missing.
It all feels manufactured to the point the audience can start predicting plot beats moments before they happen. When the funeral scenes play out as if they're on rails - 'And now he's going to get up and start crying, and... now she's going to throw herself over the corpse' etc. - the constant displays of grief end up cheapened, forgettable, disposable. There's nothing spontaneous, nothing human about them, nor anything about the film to suggest that's the point.
None of this makes Departures a bad film, but it's never more than fleetingly successful. Takita and cinematographer Takeshi Hamada give the picture a workmanlike makeover that pleases without ever impressing. Joe Hisashi's score veers far too close to his more saccharine output, but it comes in where it's expected to and never ends up intrusive or offensive. The cast may struggle with the writing, but they're too good not to squeeze some modicum of genuine drama out of it - this is product, polished up to a point, then dumped upon the public as is.
Departures is tailor-made for the casual audience, in other words, and for most of these people the synopsis will be more than enough to guarantee they'll be entertained. For anyone after more than superficial emotional gratification it's very hard to recommend. Shallow and forgettable, the leads have done much better elsewhere, and one can only hope Yojiro Takita takes his next film in another direction entirely.