Departures
(Friday, May 29, 2009)
Flashback: the Oscars (nevermind to Brangelina reactions shots when Jennifer Aniston was onstage). The award: Best Foreign Language Film. Poised to win? Either Israel's Waltz With Bashir or France's The Class. Instead, Japan's Departures won and messed up Oscar pools nationwide — but for good reason. It's breathtaking. The movie follows a young married fella whose career as a professional cellist goes south, and he's forced to job-hunt (à la Monster.com) in order to support him and his wife. He stumbles upon an ad with a call-out to "Departures" and applies for it, assuming it's a travel agency. The job, however, is a funereal one, and he's forced to prep dead bodies! Gross! But after a little getting used to, the ex-cellist discovers the beautiful in his work, death, life — all of the above. And when prompted to "get a real job, dude" from a so-called pal, he does nothing but.YESTERDAY'S DO-IT: America's Favorite Dancer, where are you?!