"The Mortician" was released in Japan on September 13, 2008, and 13 years later, on October 29, 2021, a 4K restored version was introduced in China.
The film is based on the "Diary of a Coffin Man" written by Aoki Shinmon, which is a book compiled by the author from years of diaries, and is written about his personal experience.
"The Mortician" won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and even swept the Japan Academy Awards, with a total of 13 nominations, and finally 8 awards.
The film was directed by Yojiro Takita, who entered the industry as a pornographic film, and his 1986 "Don't Be Funny Magazine" was his transformational work, and in 2001, he directed "Yin and Yang Division" starring Nomura Mansai and Hideaki Ito, and his reputation has been greatly enhanced ever since.
Seven years later, he finally won the Oscar for "The Mortician", as well as the Japan Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. A few years ago, Yojiro Takita also came to China to shoot "Smell the Smoke", which has not yet been released.
The screenwriter of this film is Kaoru Koyama, who has written many stories in "The Wonderful Story of the World", and also won the Japan Academy Award for Best Screenwriter for "The Mortician".
It is said that he had been listening to the records of cellist Yo-Yo Ma when he was writing the script, so he changed the protagonist of the story to a cellist, and the protagonist of the book was originally a fallen poet.
By the way, Koyama Kaorudo is the bear himself, mention this place, you must be the first reaction is Kumamoto Kuma, that guy is koyama Kaoru designed.
The soundtrack for this film is led by Hisaishi Jean, who even if he doesn't know the name, the soundtrack of "Let the Bullets Fly" should have been heard, of course, those soundtracks were originally used for "The Sun Also Rises".
Here's an interesting thing, "The Mortician" was nominated for Best Score at the Japan Academy Film Awards that year, but it didn't win, and I wondered who could beat Hisaishi Jean.
Under a check, it was found that the award was hayao Miyazaki's "Wave Girl on the Cliff", and the soundtrack was still Hisaishi Jean, who originally defeated himself.
Daigo Kobayashi, who plays the male lead in the film, is Masahiro Motoki, who unsurprisingly won the Japan Academy Award for Best Actor for this film.
However, this is not the first time he has won this award, and 1992's "Five Sumo Boys" has already made him a movie emperor. 2016's "Japan's Longest Day" won him Best Supporting Actor.
Just mentioned director Yojiro Takita's transformation work "Don't Be Funny Magazine", the male protagonist is Uchida Yuya, his wife is the late actor Kiki Shirin, these two are Motoki Masahiro's father-in-law and mother-in-law.
Playing the heroine Mika Kobayashi is Ryoko Hiromi, who starred in "Nostalgia of the 20th Century" in 1997 and won the Japan Academy Award for Best Newcomer.
She also acted in many Japanese dramas, including the Beppu judge who had a sense of CP with Komimon in the second season of "Legal High".
The actor who played President Sasaki is Yuki Yamazaki, who also won the Japan Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this film, and this is not the first time he has won this award, the first time was in 2001's "GO! The Great Rampage".
He has worked with many famous directors, including Akira Kurosawa, Yoshio Naruse, Itami Thirteen, Yoji Yamada, etc., and is an actor who spans several eras.
Uemura, Who plays Daigo's colleague, is Yu Guimiko, and her father is Chinese, so her surname is Yu, not Yu Gui. Still familiar with the recipe, she won the Japan Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this film.
This is the first time she has won this award, and since then she has won the same award twice, namely "Dear Doctor" in 2009 and "To Dear You" in 2012, the latter directed by Yasuo Lowering flag and starring Ken Takakura.
The two collaborated on "RailroadMan" in 1999, and the heroine of the film is Ryoko Hiromi, the heroine of "The Mortician". In addition, Yu Kimiko played the mother of the male protagonist in "Yokomichi Seinosuke" and "Parasitic Beast".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > spoilers ahead</h1>
Because it belongs to the same East Asian Confucian cultural circle, it is not difficult for Chinese audiences to accept "Entering the Mortician". After all, China also has the custom of burial, of course, the process in the middle is very different.
Some of the symbolism in the film, such as the picture of the lady of the bathhouse when she is cremated, transitions to a scene of a group of white birds taking off in the superimposed effect, and Chinese audiences will soon be able to get the meaning of "driving the crane to the west".
However, "The Mortician" won the Oscar, affirmed by most Western audiences, perhaps in addition to the curiosity, but also because the film expresses some universal values, both life and death, as well as family ethics.
"Family" is still a common theme of mainstream Hollywood movies, and even R-rated films such as "X Task Force: All Assembled" that focus on bad tastes must also join a father-daughter relationship.
On the other hand, the script of "The Mortician" is very neatly arranged, basically every 15 minutes will set an obstacle or twist for the protagonist to attract the audience to watch.
In addition to family relations, the film focuses more on the topic of life and death. This theme was presented by President Sasaki and gradually conveyed to Daigo as well as to the audience.
Sasaki has two main attitudes towards life and death, one is respect, and the other is tolerance. Regarding respect, the film uses a comedic form of expression to achieve the effect of wanting to promote and suppress.
Through a semi-false advertisement by Sasaki Noboru at the beginning, and a very dramatic interview process, as well as the whole comedy scene of the promotional film.
First make him an unreliable boss image. Later, when the official start of construction, it was revealed that he took the body seriously, forming a contrasting effect.
Audiovisual techniques are also being coordinated, such as the first appearance of the body, instead of using a overhead shot, but as the lens moves down, the body slowly rises into the painting, and finally stops at a heads-up angle, which is a respect for the deceased.
Daigo's early years were not disrespectful to life, but his respect was not the same as Sasaki's. At the beginning of the film, when Daigo is still in Tokyo, a neighbor gives them an octopus.
As a result, they found that the octopus was alive and did not dare to slaughter, so they could only take it and release it. After moving back to his hometown, there is an echoing scene, it is the neighbor who sends chicken to them, this time it is killed, but Daigo vomits when he sees the chicken.
Because that day was the first time he had moved a carrion. There is a slight difference between urban and rural areas, most of the people in the city have not seen the process of killing, but they eat meat, so when facing the octopus, both have a slightly hypocritical compassion.
Direct killing in the countryside is everywhere, and most of the chickens sent to them by neighbors are slaughtered by themselves, and Mika did not see the process of the chicken's death, and she could eat meat with peace of mind.
However, Daigo was in direct contact with death that day, and it was an extremely taste-heavy picture, and he could not adapt to it for a while. Speaking of which, Daigo has never been in close contact with death since he was a child.
He mentioned in small talk with the village that he was not well understood when his grandfather died, and that he was abroad when his mother died. So even if a corpse that has not yet been corrupted is placed in front of him, he must be at a loss, let alone a carrion.
At such times, how can we talk about respect? Sasaki has been in the industry for many years, almost every day in contact with death, has become accustomed to the body, respect for the premise in addition to not contempt, but also need not to fear, not to avoid.
So the shot at the beginning of the shot of the body is neither looking down nor looking up, but looking up. However, there is one thing to say, for the rotting corpse, the camera is actually avoided, it should be for the sake of distribution.
Sasaki had witnessed so many deaths that naturally led to another attitude towards life, which was tolerance. While eating fried chicken on Christmas Eve, Sasaki tells Daigo that he is not exclusive of any religion.
This means that he does not believe in any religion, but it does not mean that he is against religion. Most religions have their own explanations of life and death.
Sasaki witnesses life and death every day, and perhaps he can generate all kinds of realizations without the help of religious power, or he finds that his feelings are the same as many religions, so he looks down on and embraces everything.
In this scene, Daigo pulls a song "Ode to the Virgin", and the picture is accompanied by a montage, which is that Daigo gradually becomes independent and goes to the homes of people of different families and different faiths to carry out the burial ceremony.
The music also gradually transitions to the melody of the film's theme song, which seems to be a hint of a special destination. The middle is also interspersed with a series of pictures of Daigo playing the piano in the field.
Recall that at the beginning of the film, Daigo is playing in a closed concert hall, carrying an expensive fiddle loan, and the picture in front of him has a hermit feeling of inclusiveness.
Daigo distrusted Sasaki from the beginning to take over his mantle. Mika also did not accept Daigo's work at first, and later at the funeral ceremony of the lady of the bathhouse, she personally took the towel handed by Daigo.
Just as Daigo and her father exchanged stones to convey friendship when they were young, Mika realized why Daigo insisted on this job.
Before that, she thought that Daigo could not explain her profession to her children, and finally at the funeral ceremony of Daigo's father, she personally told the staff of the crematorium that her husband was a mortician.
Let's talk about subjectively what I think is some of the flaws in this movie. The first is that some of the crises were resolved too coincidentally.
For example, after Mei Xiang returned to her mother's house and found out that she was pregnant, she came back to persuade Daigo to resign, Daigo did not agree, and just when the matter did not know how to end, she received the news of the death of the lady owner of the bathhouse, and then resolved the contradiction between the two through a burial ceremony.
The timing of this event is too coincidental, but the scene behind is full of emotion, and the audience will ignore this after investing in it.
Another point is about the character of Uemura, who, like Daigo, saw President Sasaki working and thought he was special, and decided to join the company.
But after such a long time, why Sasaki did not choose to let Uemura take over his mantle is not clearly explained in the film. In the early stages of the film, it has been showing how deserted the industry is and how difficult it is to recruit talents.
It is hard to have a person like Uemura who voluntarily joined, Sasaki should not have thought about it, if it is because of the low status of women in Japan, the tacit transmission of men and not women, it is in conflict with the concept of tolerance conveyed throughout.
If you can make some fuss about the reasons behind it, and choose Daigo after Sasaki, you can reduce some of the "chosen people" component and be more convincing.
When the end credits of "Entering the Mortuary" came out, the entire process of the funeral ceremony was presented in one shot, but it was Masahiro Motoki himself who completed this series of actions.
It shows that the actor has practiced the whole process many times, and it can be said that he takes this role very seriously. There are no lines in this process, and the whole set of rituals alone conveys a sense of solemnity.
As Daigo's father said, when there is no language, use stones to convey the state of emotion. Sometimes, this silent communication is more powerful than language.