Departures

This movie was good! At first I was feeling a bit apprehensive about the fact that it was going to be in a foreign language and that I would have to read a ton of subtitles, but that really didn't end up being a problem.

It was interesting that while I watched, I really did feel like the movie was of a completely different style from the usual, American movies I watched. The reason for the difference was difficult to place. My logic started off running along the lines of "they both have actors" and "they both have scenes," so I had no idea what made Departures so distinctive from the usual movies I saw. Of course, I thought, all movies are meant to be different! Their subjects are different, their characters are different.

Overall, I think the main, prevalent  factor that gave Departures it's special "feel" was the sort of humor it involved as well as the language that was used. The humor really seemed to use high context and wasn't really a joke-punchline, but more of implied statements as well as funny situations arising from miscommunication within the high context. For instance, the fact that Daigo tells his wife his new job has to do with ceremonies is very high context, and his wife ironically believes it to be almost the opposite of his death ceremonies: Weddings?

Another thing, though, is that the words in this movie aren't the original. They're translated! So I suppose I can never really get the EXACT original sense of the movie, but I do believe that the translation must have been pretty close to the original since the expressions and voices of the actors seemed to fit quite well.

In the end, it really did amaze me that while movies can reflect some very different cultures, there is something universal, something special, that makes some things, such as Departures, enjoyable and understandable to everyone, regardless of their cultural background.