Departures...

Saw a great movie just before I left Sing Sing. Okuribito (Departures) won an Oscar for best foreign film this year. Its a really beautiful film about a guy who moves back to his home town and answers a misprinted job advert and lands a job as a Nokanshi, someone who prepares the body and puts it into a coffin (in front of the family). The beauty of the film is just how elegantly and sensitively they convey the profession. I was entranced by the elaborate ritual every time it was performed. The acting is superb and the observations on how the younger generation of Japanese are moving away from the country and its traditions is well done.