The movie tells the story of an unemployed cellist Kobayashi Daigou, job searching to find a mortician’s job, thus beginning a journey with death and life.
The movie lets people know the content of the job of an embalmer, who is also called a mortician, and whose main job is to refurbish the face and body of the dead, and to make up the whole body for the dead, which is an important part of the funeral culture.
Through the growth and transformation of Kobayashi Daigo, and the gradual understanding and support of his lover and friends around him, the movie shows the meaning and value of the embalmer’s profession, and makes the audience rethink their views on life and death.
2008 / Japan / Drama / Yojiro Takita / Masahiro Motoki Ryoko Hiouma
Kobayashi Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) buys an expensive cello in order to make a career out of it, but after four months of orchestral playing, he gets the bad news that the orchestra has been disbanded, and he has to pay a huge debt to buy the instrument.
He and his wife Mika (Ryoko Hiromi) move to an old house and live in poverty.
One day, an advertisement catches Daigo’s attention: NK Agency, help with traveling, high salary and short working hours.
When Daigo arrives at NK Agency for an interview, the president, Ikuei Sasaki (Nu Yamazaki), decides to hire Daigo without saying a word, but is evasive about what the job entails.
When Daigo repeatedly asks him about the job, President Sasaki finally reveals that it is a mortuary (NouKan) job! Though he is psychologically afraid, he accepts the job because of the high salary.
However, this kind of work is not easy for ordinary people. On the one hand, he is uncomfortable with the remains, and on the other hand, he has to hide his work from his wife and friends, and this is how Kobayashi Daigo’s extraordinary work begins.
