Preview: Departures (2009)

Synopsis:

A cellist finds his career in the local orchestra cut short and must go in search of a new job, finding one as a mortuary attendant responsible for laying out corpses and preparing them for display.

• Poster: B-

Review:

We are fully aware from this poster that, we're watching a film about a cellist. And that's all the poters really tells us without reading the individual festival listings and the Academy Awards recognition, which isn't sufficient.

• Trailer: A-

Review:

Sometimes it's hard to know what will appeal to Academy voters until you see the preview. Had I seen it before the Oscars, I think I would have put this down as the eventual Oscar winner. It looks like an engaging and endearing story of a man struggling to come to terms with his new career while coming to understand his deceased subjects better and thus understanding his place in the world.

Oscar Prospects:

It was an Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film for 2008, thus is entirely ineligible for 2009 awards consideration.

Release Date:

• May 29, 2009

Full Review Synopsis:

I have not seen this film.

-Wesley Lovell (April 12, 2009) Original