Okuribito 2008

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: Incredibly moving. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It is, I'm afraid, unlikely to reflect much glory on the Oscar nomination process and the voters in general. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Departures needed a little more work in the morgue -- like cutting to the bone. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Director Yojiro Takita uses the changing seasons to echo the characters' moods; the score by Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) has a suitably majestic sweep. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Departures is such an elegant, beautifully mounted meditation on death, funeral customs and parent-child relations that you may find yourself sniffling and resisting simultaneously. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Here's a great way to start savoring life: Don't waste it on pat manipulations like this. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The winning nature of the performances outweighs Takita's more obvious choices. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: This is the kind of tastefully poignant drama that asks its audience to confront taboos and then pats them on the back for doing so. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Takita is blessed with actors who move lightly, gracefully within this landscape. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Like Sunshine Cleaning, this is a gentle comic tale of grisly 
employment opportunity in desperate times. Only Departures is tender and, at times, rather squishy. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Multiplexes are crowded with noisy summer films, from which Departures will represent a sophisticated and elegant departure. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: [Director] Takita could easily trim 30 minutes of flab and oceans of tears from Departures. It still wouldn't merit an Oscar, but it would be a lot more watchable. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The ultimate beauty of the film rests in its symbolic details that bridge the abyss between the living and the dead. As the French might say, it is to make one cry. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Departures is a loving tribute to the Japanese way of death. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Yojiro Takita's movie simultaneously tickles tears of mourning as it wrings laughs about the meaning of life. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The plot involves some developments we can see coming, but they seem natural, inevitable. The music is lush and sentimental in a subdued way, the cinematography is perfectly framed and evocative, and the movie is uncommonly absorbing. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: The film is far from perfect but has enough going on to compensate for its excessive length and some sentimentality. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: One of the most shameless examples of emotional manipulation I've seen -- and one of the most effective. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Departures is sometimes macabre and sometimes manipulative, but the way it speaks to the spirit is miraculous. Read more

James Adams, Globe and Mail: It breaks no new ground, offers no audacious insights or rude revelations; toe follows tac as surely as tac follows tic. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Departures quietly subverts aesthetic and emotional expectations. There are moments where the story could turn maudlin or veer into bad taste, but the high-minded intent is never lost. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: The movie gestures towards deep emotions, but an abiding soft-grained superficiality effectively insulates us from the piercing realities of grief. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Though events unravel predictably, the film is profoundly affecting, thanks to a well-written story, rich characters and superlative acting. Read more

Eddie Cockrell, Variety: TV scribe Kundo Koyama's first bigscreen script peppers the proceedings with rich character detail and near-screwball interludes that shouldn't fit but somehow do. Read more

Ella Taylor, Village Voice: Departures is built for simplicity, and, if nothing else, the appeal to decency and integrity of this sweetly old-fashioned tale make it a must for Bernie Madoff's prison Netflix queue. Read more

Philip Kennicott, Washington Post: It is as polished as it is heavy-handed, and it leaves one under a spell. Read more