Insulting

So can we take it that, on the whole, you were not impressed by this film, claygoul-1?

While I agree with many of the words you say... and it was my overwhelming sentiment for about the first third of the film, I did come to find the quality of cinematography and direction surpassed those items. I did give it a 9/10 instead of a 10, for the very reasons you stated. Just with less intensity. I saw this on the day of Japan's Sendai earthquake/tsunami, coincidentally, so it will remain ingrained in my memory for years to come.

***So I've seen 4 movies/wk in theatre for a 1/4 century, call me crazy?**

I loved this movie. I think it's maybe one of my five favourite films of all time.

I'll agree there are some problems. The (facial) mugging of the lead actor, which I've seen done in other Asian films...perhaps it's a cultural thing? (Some say this movie is supposed to be a comedy, so mugging would not be inappropriate). The wife's facial expressions are very true-to-life of some Japanese women, so I don't see that as a fault of the film. I actually thought her character was quite cute and loving.

As for this being a story shown many times before... This is the first movie I've seen where a classical musician loses his job, only to tackle the job of prepraring corpses for the afterlife, which leads to a too-late reunion with his father which fortunately brings him some peace for a place in his heart which had become quite hardened. Can't think of any other movie that comes even close to this storyline!

I'm so glad I finally got to see this treasure. :-)

THANKS FOR THE SPOILER ALERT !!!!

Well you don't see much of the truth about a job like this quite often on the screen eh?
By the way, this movie is mostly about the sharpness in culture of Japan which is so much better than many other typical movie
Its not for everyone, I agree but its definitely not insulting .

"Westernized soap-opera type musical soundtrack"

Come again?

Based on your reviews its hard to judge what criteria you use for a good film...

The only thing I agree with you on is the facial expressions the lead actor does. However, there were subtle doses of comedy in this so it's not completely out of left field. Everything else you said is just plain insipid.