Departures Critic Reviews

The movie is uncommonly absorbing.Read the full review

The film manages to be anything but dark; whimsy and sweet irony are laced throughout, a warmhearted blend that turned it into the surprise winner of 2008's Oscar for foreign-language film.Read the full review

Beautiful moments abound. In Departures, the contemplation of death prepares the way for an appreciation of life.Read the full review

Though events unravel predictably, the film is profoundly affecting, thanks to a well-written story, rich characters and superlative acting.Read the full review

Yojiro Takita, who directed enduring commercial hits like "The Ying Yang Master" and "The Yen Family," has made a popular gem -- thematically respectable, technically hard to fault, artfully scripted to entertain and touch.Read the full review

The film is far from perfect but has enough going on to compensate for its excessive length and some sentimentality.Read the full review

TV scribe Kundo Koyama's first bigscreen script peppers the proceedings with rich character detail and near-screwball interludes that shouldn't fit but somehow do.Read the full review

It is as polished as it is heavy-handed, and it leaves one under a spell.Read the full review

Departures is tender and, at times, rather squishy. It's sure to squeeze the tear ducts of anyone who has lost a parent.Read the full review