Bonnie, Doug and I walked out of the Japanese movie Departures, directed by Yojiro Takita, with our emotions roiling. Watching this film, you start out laughing and end up feeling every other emotion including fear of death.Whew! It's a lot like hang gliding at the Nickelodeon.

Excellent acting is the thing. Tsutomu Yamazaki as Sasaki, the old man who owns the "casketing" company, makes this film memorable. You want this guy as a dad. Sasaki's direct hiring practices, and his savage appreciation of food are wonderful. "This dumpling is so good I hate myself."

Masahiro Motuki plays Daigo, a young cello player who loses his position with an orchestra and moves back to his home town with his wife, Mika, played by Ryoko Hirosue. Daigo has fears about his ability as a musician. Plus, he's still mourning his parents' divorce.

Ryoko Hirosue apparently started her career as a makeup model on a big TV ad.That's surprising. In Departures, she's a young housewife just following along until she finds out her husband is handling corpses for a living. Then she revolts.

The film steps inside Japanese life, highlighting the charms, magnificent scenery, and everyday griminess of life in a small Japanese town. You're inside a small company. At the local steam bath. Revisiting old friends. What do the Japanese think about death? This movie lays it on the line without being preachy.

The emotions in Departures seem genuine althought they occasionally spill over the top. The cremation scene with the man yelling "Ma," is overblown, but this is an exception.

Departures won the Academy Award for best foreign film in 2009.