Havent stepped into Junction 8 for years...our malls are always expanding. Anyway, first time drove to Bishan...and to drive E.W & Aunt Jo..kinda stressed. U must be thinking why I went to watch movie there? Coz' downtown GV cinemas all full house for "Departures" la! Haiz...
Well, lunch at CJ Kitchen again (gotta clear the vouchers...). The place was a little crowded, and service was average...plus they were a tad slow in serving food. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the Crispy Roasted Duck , Har Gao & You Ji Mian. Didn't like the pork ribs though.
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Tasty food~~~--Departures--
Another excellent movie to brighten my day. "Departures" won the best foreign film in Oscars, and there were many positive reviews about it. I think I do not need to go through the plot here. Basically there were two parts which left me a deep impression. First, cello. Watching Daigo playing the cello reminded me of the good old times again. Suddenly, i realised that I had missed playing the instrument so much. Nice melody and mellow sound filled the cinema when Daigo appeared with his cello. I liked that scene where he played the cello in an open area, with the Japanese Alps in the background. (Wow!!) Second, the job-encoffinment. Dressing up the deceased and applying the make up in front of the family were no easy job! After seeing how Daigo and his boss did all the procedures for encoffinment, I really gotta kowtow to the Japanese. They were so careful and delicate...and they gave the upmost respect to the deceased. There's scenes when Daigo gotta removed the yutakas from the bodies, cleaned them up, then dressed them up in new clothing...all covered up with a top layer. The method to help them wear the clothes was just super professional as they didn't even need to lift up the body.The story was actually a little plain, but it's not boring, and there was lots of humour. Every character had his/her touching little moments. As for Daigo, many ppl didn't understand why he took up the job, as Japanese also see this job as undesirable (death is a taboo topic). Even his wife Mika wasn't understanding and said that his hands were unclean.
Thumbs up to Motoki Masahiro & Hirosue Ryoko. Excellent acting from them! Motoko is not a cellist, but I think he had trained hard to play the instrument, and I liked his professionalism when he did the procedures for encoffinment. Hirosue's character might not seemed to be that impt, but I think Mika was an impt person in Daigo's life. I loved the couple's chemistry, and it was clearly showed in the scene when Daigo needed some comfort. (Hirosue did sacrificed quite alot for that scene...wow! )
In our society, Chinese are "pangdang" over jobs related to death too. Is death really that scary? Maybe I should just quote from the old man who's in-charge of cremation in the movie..."death is just a gate to another world". It's a natural process in everyone's lives.
Last but not least, the music used in the movie was great. Maybe I would consider buying the OST, if i can find one. Hehe!
