[From March Issue 2010]

Departures (Directed by TAKITA Yojiro)

“Departures” is the drama that won the 81st Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2009 Oscars. At the 32nd Japan Academy Awards, it won the Best Film Award, in addition to other awards for its cast and crew.

The main character KOBAYASHI Daigo (MOTOKI Masahiro) is a former cellist. He gives up his career after his orchestra in Tokyo is disbanded. He moves back to his old home in Yamagata Prefecture with his wife Mika (HIROSUE Ryoko) and looks for a new job. He notices a classified ad that says, “assisting travels,” and feeling certain that the NK Agent company is a travel agency, he requests an interview.

The company president (YAMAZAKI Tsutomu) doesn’t bother reading Daigo’s resume and hires him on the spot. But Daigo is worried because he still doesn’t know what kind of work it is. Timidly he asks, only to find out that his job is encoffinment, the task of placing dead people in coffins. Apparently the classified ad was miss-written and should have read “assisting departures (deaths).” Daigo further learns that the company’s name, NK, is short for “NouKan” (encoffinment).

Daigo can only tell Mika that his work is related to “ceremonial occasions.” Mika misunderstands this to mean that he is now working at a wedding hall. On his first job, he deals with the corpse of an old woman who lived alone and was found two weeks after she died. He vomits.

Gradually Daigo starts to feel pride in his work, which is greatly appreciated by the bereaved families. Then, Mika finally learns what he really does and begs him to “get a regular job.” While Mika gets upset and returns home to her parents, Daigo remains, instead, focusing on becoming a full-fledged mortician.

Mika suddenly returns to tell Daigo that they are going to have a baby. He is happy to hear that, but again Mika presses him to change his job because she thinks their child will eventually be bullied because of it. Then, Daigo’s cell phone rings. It’s his childhood friend YAMASHITA, who also once suggested that he find a “better job,” telling him that his mother, Tsuyako, has just died.

Daigo and Mika face Tsuyako’s corpse, and in front of Yamashita, his family and Mika, he encoffins the body. He makes up her face and dresses her in her favorite scarf and kimono. Finally Yamashita and Mika both realize just how serious Daigo takes his job, and they both come to understand and appreciate his work.

Later, Daigo receives a telegram informing him of the death of his estranged father. He does not remember his father, who left his mother when Daigo was only six years old. For Daigo, who also lost his mother, the concept of “parents” is almost nonexistent. Initially Daigo refuses to claim the corpse. But, persuaded by Mika and others, he decides to see his father’s corpse. There, he is freed from his hatred and conducts his father’s encoffinment.

[2010年3月号掲載記事]

おくりびと（滝田二郎 監督）

「おくりびと」は2009年の第81回アカデミー賞で外国語映画賞を受賞したドラマ作品。また、第32回日本アカデミー賞では最優秀作品賞の他、スタッフ・キャスト陣が多くを受賞した。

物語の主人公は元チェロ演奏者、小林大悟（本木雅弘）。入団していた東京の楽団が解散したため音楽家としての道をあきらめる。妻の美香（広末涼子）を連れて故郷の山形県に帰り新たな職を探していたところ、「旅のお手伝い」という求人広告を見つける。旅行代理店と思い込み、NKエージェントというその会社に面接を申し込む。

社長（山崎努）は大悟の履歴書を読まずにあっさり採用を決める。どんな仕事かも知らされず不安な大悟。おそるおそるたずねると、死んだ人を棺に納める納棺師の仕事だと説明される。「旅のお手伝い」は、「旅立ち（死）のお手伝い」の間違いで、社名のNKは「納棺」に由来する、と。

大悟は美香には「冠婚葬祭関係」としか言えず、結婚式場が職場だと勘違いされる。初めての現場では、一人暮らしで亡くなり２週間がたった老女の遺体と対面し、吐いてしまう。

大悟は遺族から感謝される仕事に少しずつ誇りを持ち始める。そんな矢先、ついに本当の仕事を知った美香から「普通の仕事をしてほしい」と泣きつかれてしまう。怒って実家に戻った美香を連れ戻すこともせず、大悟は仕事に打ち込み、一人前の納棺師になっていく。

美香が突然自宅に戻り、赤ちゃんができたと言う。喜ぶ大悟だったが、生まれてくる子どもがいじめられるからと、美香から再び仕事を変わるようせまられる。そこに大悟の携帯電話がなる。以前、「もっとましな仕事につけ」と言った幼なじみの山下からで、母、ツヤ子が亡くなったと言う。

大悟と美香はツヤ子の遺体と対面する。山下やその妻子、美香の前で大悟は納棺を行う。ツヤ子に化粧をし、お気に入りだったスカーフを巻き、着物を着せる。山下も美香も、真剣な仕事ぶりを見せられ、大悟の仕事を初めて理解する。

あるとき、大悟のもとに父の死を知らせる電報が届く。6歳で両親が離婚した大悟は、父を覚えていない。すでに母を亡くした彼にとって父は肉親とは呼べず、最初は遺体の引き取りをこばむ。しかし美香たちの説得で、遺体と対面する。そこで大悟は憎しみから解放され、父の納棺を行うのだった。