Directed by:
Yōjirō TakitaScreenplay:
Kundō KoyamaCinematography:
Takeshi HamadaComposer:
Joe HisaishiPlots(1)
When professional cello player Daigo is left jobless after the orchestra he plays in disbands, he and his wife Mika move back from Tokyo to the family home in rural Yamagata left by his mother, who passed away two years previously. Here he stumbles upon a vaguely-worded advert in a local newspaper for a job “assisting departures.” He turns up at the interview and is hired on the spot by his new boss Sasaki, only to discover the post is for an assistant nôkanshi, or traditional mortician, performing the Buddhist rites of washing and preparing corpses for their final journey. Initially he keeps the nature of his employment hidden from Mika, but as his disgust for his work turns to pride, he soon finds himself coming to terms with his own life, and the past memories of the father who abandoned him as a child. (Arrow Academy)
(more)Soundtracks
Departures
Original Soundtrack
Label: Universal Music
Year: 2008
Country: Japan
Format: CD
Length: 44:48
1. | Shine Of Snow I | Joe Hisaishi | 01:12 |
2. | Nohkana | Joe Hisaishi | 03:10 |
3. | Kaisan | Joe Hisaishi | 00:53 |
4. | Good-By Cello | Joe Hisaishi | 02:16 |
5. | New Road | Joe Hisaishi | 01:15 |
6. | Model | Joe Hisaishi | 00:47 |
7. | First Contact | Joe Hisaishi | 01:51 |
8. | Washing | Joe Hisaishi | 00:34 |
9. | Kizuna I | Joe Hisaishi | 01:57 |
10. | Beautiful Dead I | Joe Hisaishi | 03:12 |
11. | Departures - On Record | Joe Hisaishi | 01:51 |
12. | Gui-Dance | Joe Hisaishi | 02:26 |
13. | Shine Of Snow II | Joe Hisaishi | 02:25 |
14. | Ave Maria - Departures | Joe Hisaishi | 05:29 |
15. | Kizuna II | Joe Hisaishi | 02:04 |
16. | Beautiful Dead II | Joe Hisaishi | 02:37 |
17. | Father | Joe Hisaishi | 01:40 |
18. | Departures - Memory | Joe Hisaishi | 04:10 |
19. | Departures - Ending | Joe Hisaishi | 04:59 |