Eiga Sai 2011 Opening Night

Cellist Renato Lucas and pianist Naomi Sison perform

A couple of years ago, during a classical music concert, a violinist introduced to the audience their encore piece: the theme to the movie Okuribito (おくりびと). The violinist asked the audience if anyone had seen the film and she was met by a puzzled response indicating that the audience had no idea what she was talking about. Unfortunately, the film didn't have a commercial run in local theaters here despite being an Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Film .Finally, two years later, the film which has Departures as its English title had its Philippine premier during the opening of the Eiga Sai 2011, the Japanese Film Festival which is part of the Philippines-Japan Friendship Month celebrations.

The Eiga Sai, the much awaited annual Japanese Film Festival organized by the Japan Foundation, Manila had its opening night at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall. Invited guests gathered at the mall’s Grand Atrium for the cocktails prior to the screening of the opening film. Ambassador Toshinao Urabe of the Embassy of Japan and Japan Foundation Executive Director Shuji Takatori both delivered welcoming remarks which was followed by a special musical performance by cellist Renato Lucas accompanied on the piano by Naomi Sison. Those who are aware of what Okuribito is all about would find it pretty obvious what the duo played. It was nice talking to both Renato Lucas and Naomi Sison prior to their performance. They were both surprised to see me there since we normally see each other during music related events and this was a film event. I was also able to see some familiar faces, many whom I've met in previous events.

Okuribito (おくりびと)/Departures

Shortly after that, the guests ascended to the upper floors to the cinema to see the critically acclaimed film. Departures is a remarkable film about a cellist, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) who lost his job and had to resort to a very unusual line of work: preparing corpses to be placed inside their coffins. Daigo trying to deal with his eccentric boss Shoei Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki) while keeping the job secret from his wife, Mika Kobayashi (Ryoko Hirosue) and his mishaps during his first few outings with his new work provided laughs. And then things took a serious turn when the film focused on another aspect of death which is the grief that comes with mourning. Daigo then had to deal with his own grief when death came very close to him. There was a very emotionally packed scene at the end which resulted in people coming out of the cinema with red, misty and swollen eyes with either denials or admissions that they did indeed cry. People, including myself, came out of the cinema feeling emotionally exhausted but I am glad to have gone through it since I came out appreciating life and quite surprisingly, death more. One thing that I really liked about the movie is the excellent musical score of Joe Hisaishi and I won’t be surprised if some people who watched the film eventually find themselves humming the theme during their unguarded moments.

The Eiga Sai 2011 opening night was indeed a huge success and it clearly set the tone for the rest of the festival which never failed to draw in not only movie buffs but also fans of Japanese language and culture. Before I forget, the classical music concert that I mentioned at the beginning was actually organized by the Japan Foundation also and it featured Japanese musicians. I guess that the violinist, Ayako Ishikawa, would be very glad to know that despite the two year delay, the movie Okuribito finally has been shown here.