This is a Japanese film set mainly in a fairly rural region, Daigo a cellist loses his job when his orchestra is disbanded, so with his wife he returns to his home town to live in the house that his mother left him. He gets a job with a guy who prepares bodies to be placed in coffins. The preparation is a traditional Japanese ceremony, the job is seen by many as one that might bring shame on someone. During the course of the film Daigo speaks of his father who he has never forgiven for leaving him and his mother to fend for them selves. Slowly the main characters start to appreciate the work that he does and the valuable role he plays in the grieving process.
The film is well filmed in the almost always grey weather. It is nice to see the real Japan rather than the Tokyo that we always see in other films. I got the sense that there was definitely some Japanese humour in it that I may have missed, I suspect that it also touched on a subject that is perhaps Taboo in Japan. It deserves four stars for being different, interesting and for giving me an insight into Japanese life.