This Academy Award winning film is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan and takes an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan's cultural heritage.

Departures is a fastidiously composed ode to a dying ritual- one that gives the troubled soul at the film center new life.

The film opens with an “encoffinment,” a ceremony that prepares the deceased for a peaceful departure from this world.

It is a lovely ritual and one lovingly performed by Daigo (Masahiro Motoki).

The family watches the body being washed and arranged and when Daigo discovers a rather humourous problem, he deals with it sensitively.

Daigo is a cellist whose orchestra was disbanded and he knows he is not good enough to find another position.

He decides to move back to his hometown with his wife to look for work and start over.

Daigo answers a classified ad entitled: Departures, thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency.

He arrives to discover the job is for a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life.

While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of “Nokanshi,” acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death.

The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.

Director Yojiro Takita and writer Kundo Kayama are not afraid to give the viewer an emotional punch as well as a punch line.

Departures, is showing at the Civic Centre, Mon. Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m.