The surprise winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Departures tells the story of a concert cellist named Daigo who undergoes a transformation following the death of his father and the dissolution of his Tokyo orchestra. Because he spent a fortune on a new cello for his now-defunct ensemble, Daigo retreats, guilt-ridden, to his picturesque hometown in northern Japan to look for work, with his obedient wife Mika in tow. He responds to an ad for a company called “Departures,” thinking it’s a travel agency, but discovers that the company caters to morticians who perform “encoffinments”—highly stylized and meticulous ceremonies to prepare bodies for burial or cremation. Daigo has mixed feelings about working in an industry that carries such taboo in Japan, but he can’t refuse the salary. Soon, he finds pride in helping grieving family members cope with the loss of their loved ones, but he still can’t find the courage to admit to Mika what he does for a living. Inspired by Japanese author Shinmon Aoki’s mortician memoir, Coffinman, Departures is a tonally eccentric, lushly scored, moving, and funny drama that uses the rituals of death to foster a greater appreciation of life.