This film was the surprise winner of the Oscar this year for Best Foreign Language Film. It stars Masahiro Motoki as Daigo, a cellist who plays in an orchestra that closes down. Looking for a job, he decides to leave the city and answers a classified ad for a business called Departures in his old hometown. He thinks it is a travel agency but it turns out to be a funeral home. Although at first, he doesn't think he will last in this new job, he soon finds a new peace and sense of self in preparing bodies for burial. Directed by Yôjirô Takita. With Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Takashi Sasano, Tetta Sugimoto and Tôru Minegishi. Categories: Drama, Music. Year: 2008.

Tsutomu Yamazaki in Okuribito