A verklempt comedy about the death industry that’s salvaged by three winning performances. Masahiro Motoki is an empathetic standout as Kobayashi, a big-city cello player forced to return home to smalltown life and a job as a local embalmer. Tsutomu Yamazaki is a stony-faced treat as his boss, a man who can seemingly convey disgust, disinterest and mild joy with the same grimace, while Ryoko Hirosue is the live-wire wife who is yet to learn of her husband’s new job. The direction from the veteran film-maker Yojiro Takita is stately, the soundtrack dreamy, but the push-button crying becomes wearisome.
12A (130min)