禮儀師の奏鳴曲 (Departures)

看過這齣戲後，才明白它何以成為首齣榮獲奧斯卡最佳外語片的日本電影，因為它確實精彩。先談劇本，故事其實很簡單，卻在簡單的脈絡中，寫出了生命的積極與無奈，每個人物的設定都深具血肉得就像身邊人，日本人或熟悉日本文化的朋友，會更能感受那份切身的共鳴。電影對死亡與人對死亡之禁忌的探討，含蓄而深入，導演多次以大自然的生物與境象去比喻生死，更是功力的表現。演員方面，本木雅弘從眉毛到手指都在演戲，將角色的內心呈現得極細致，勇奪亞洲影帝是當之無愧。電影在片末部份重演一次納棺的過程，更是劃龍點睛，令電影更具大片風範。

本片有三點連貫點我覺得是導演特別帶給觀眾的，第一是對已逝世親人思念的那份情，第二是夫妻之間互愛互信的那份感情，第三就是父子情，雖然主角年少時給父親拋棄。但面對已逝世的父親，主角反思到這份父子的感情，無論在過去或現在，是誰對是誰錯也好都是存在的。另一讚是將日本的地道殯儀文化拍攝入電影入面，在電影可看得出日本人十分尊重已過身的親人、連清潔遺體、上妝、入棺都要在自己家中進行，仲要宴請埋各方親友在殯儀師處理時作觀看。

另一個我覺得值得要讚既，係大悟面對朋友、妻子、大眾對佢工作既不認同，用什麼態度面對。我覺得有時最不懂尊重自己既人，並非別人，而是自己。有些人認為自己做既工作社會地位低、搵得錢少之類，經常埋怨，甚至不尊重自己既工作，馬馬虎虎，惡性循環。
只要你尊重自己，認同自己做既野，在當中找出意義，其他人最後一定會認同你，好似戲中大悟最後被朋友、妻子肯定一樣。

What I loved most: The departure ceremonies

Its a very typical Japanese film and I meant it in a nice way. Good details, acting, an "unusual" tradition (stone letters), couple of lessons in life, a dash of bodily humor, a nice story to tug at the heartstrings and finally an equally effective soundtrack to release the floodgates - everything that you will expect to come out from a nice traditional Japanese film. You really have to hand it to the Japanese for making the most morbid of profession look so graceful and salute them for their dedication to their profession. Although you could have guessed the ending halfway through the film, you will probably smile and forgive the cliches seeing that so much effort has been put in to deliver a nice human tale. I won't be surprised if this movie sparks off a little craze of people looking for pebbles and exchanging it with one another. Overall, a nice heartwarming story .

A lot of people think that handling dead people are such a dirty job. But this movie will change your view forever. Okuribito shows that no matter how dirty a job is, if it's done with patience, passion and heart it will be something that you'll never forget in your life and even fix bad relationship with anyone else. Although the pace of the movie is a bit slow (it's 130 minutes), the score of the movie is wonderful enough to keep us enjoying the film and the Japanese ritual is just simply breath-taking. This movie won't only make you learn the Japanese culture but also make you learn that any jobs, no matter how dirty it is, can be done if you put great efforts into it. A wonderful movie, simply magical despite the fact that the plot is actually quite simple. No wonder it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.