How Long Is “Okuribito”?

(2008) Yôjirô Takita's whimsical look at the Japanese undertaking profession was the winner of 2009's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) stars as a classical musician who finds himself out of a job when his orchestra suddenly closes. Returning to his rural home town with his wife Mika (Ryoko Hirosue) he takes a job ritually preparing the bodies of the recently deceased for cremation. He thrives under the watchful eye of his undertaker boss (Tsutomu Yamazaki) but, unfortunately, his wife is less than happy with his new career. The Oscar win, though deserved, was a bit of a surprise at the time (it was up against Waltz with Bashir and The Class), prompting the industry joke that the ageing Academy voters saw in the film's subject matter something they could utterly relate to. In Japanese with English subtitles. Network premiere. M,W,S.