Dispatches Reboot #1

As a journalist, you’d think I’d be a MASSIVE blogger. Well, for some reason that’s not the case. I think more or less I need something to report on, not just an outlet to voice my opinions. When I write for the Daily Aztec I know I have an audience. I especially love those readers who hate me, for some reason. But with a blog, especially one this obscure on the entirety of the Internet, people have to seek it out leaving mostly friends and family as the readers. That usually means light-hearted commentary more so than the big guns. Haha.

Well, I’m hoping in the next month or so I’ll be able to blog more, for the sake of reporting. So the next update will be about my trip to VIETNAM. I may have to skip Malaysia. Oh well. Vietnam was cooler anyways.

With that in mind, I present my third article for the Nanyang Chronicle, Nanyang Technological University’s tri-weekly student newspaper. My first two articles were OK, and didn’t really come out the way I liked them – mostly because the editors butchered the hell out of them- so I didn’t really feel like sharing them. But my latest article is actually a review that sounds like I wrote it, what a concept!

You can find the review on the lower half of this page or I can just copy/paste it here and you can reader it once you go..

One quick thing about the movie. You won’t find it in the States for a few more months. Currently there is no scheduled release date. The film is readily available in Asia, however.

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4/5 Stars

DEPARTURES
Drama (PG)

Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue
130min

THIS year’s Oscars had no surprises. Well, almost. Japanese director Yojiro Takita managed to snag the Best Foreign Language award from Israel’s Waltz with Bashir with the inspiring drama Departures. With that in mind, there is a lot to expect from such a film.

Departures follows the story of Daigo, (Masahiro Motoki) a cellist who finds himself out of work after a Tokyo orchestra disbands. His only choice is to return to his rural hometown with his wife to start over.
Looking for work, Daigo finds a job listing for “departures.” Thinking it is for a travel agency, he applies for the position, only to realize it is for a job at a mortuary. He takes the job out of desperation and embarks on a personal odyssey of his past and his estranged family while dealing with the stigma of his newly discovered career.
The drama starts off as a light-hearted comedy but it later evolves to address themes of life, death, rebirth and compassion. Takita weaves together Daigo’s rebirth while equally focusing on the importance of death to the human journey, making use of symbols like location, food, music and even plants to deliver its message.
In one ceremony for a deceased teenager, writer Kundo Koyama not only manages to sum up the importance of Daigo’s profession to society despite its stigma, but also helps his self-realization.
The beauty of the cinematography enhances the intricacy and care taken to extract meaning from “nokanshi,” the art and ritual of encoffinment central to the film.
Death never felt so pivotal to life. Takita is able to reveal the kind of closure and importance death plays in all of our lives, as both the mourner and the deceased. In the end, Daigo discovers that his work as an intermediary between the living and the end is paramount in resolving a past that still torments his memories.
The film’s weakest point is the poorly-handled conflict between Daigo and his wife regarding his profession. Its resolution may come off as predictable for some but it is ultimately redeemed in the film’s third act. Either way, it’s a film worth the trip to the theatre.—John P. Gamboa