 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Funeral" 1984 film – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| The Funeral | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Juzo Itami |
| Written by | Juzo Itami |
| Produced by | Seigo Hosogoe |
| Starring | Tsutomu Yamazaki Nobuko Miyamoto Kin Sugai Asao Sano Hideji Ōtaki |
| Cinematography | Yonezô Maeda |
| Edited by | Akira Suzuki |
| Music by | Joji Yuasa |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Release dates |
|
| Running time | 124 min. |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
The Funeral (Japanese: お葬式, Hepburn: Osōshiki) is a 1984 Japanese comedy film written and directed by Juzo Itami.
The film shows the preparations for a traditional Japanese funeral. It mixes grief at the loss of a husband and father with wry observations of the various characters as they interact during the three days of preparation.
The Funeral was Itami's feature film debut and was an enormous success in Japan. It won five Japanese Academy Awards in 1985 including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor for Tsutomu Yamazaki. It was nominated in a further five categories and also came first in the annual Kinema Junpo critics' poll. In May 2022, the Criterion Collection released a restoration of the film on Blu-ray.
Itami took inspiration for the film from his experience with the funeral of his father-in-law (Nobuko Miyamoto's father).
In 1992, it was screened on the United Kingdom's Channel 4 under the title Death, Japanese Style.
Plot
Shinkichi Amamiya (Hideji Otaki) is a difficult 69-year-old man, married to Kikue (Kin Sugai). He dies suddenly of a heart attack, and it falls to his daughter Chizuko (Nobuko Miyamoto) and son-in-law Wabisuke Inoue (Tsutomu Yamazaki) to organize the funeral at their house.
Among other things, the family have to choose a coffin, hire a priest, hold a wake, learn formal funeral etiquette and hold the service itself.
During the three days of preparation, various tensions within the family are hinted at, such as resentment of a rich but stingy uncle, Inoue's affair with a younger woman, and possibly an affair the dead man himself had with a female gateball player.
After the service, the long-suffering wife delivers a dignified speech to the family regretting that the hospital would not let her be with her husband as he died.
Cast
- Tsutomu Yamazaki as Wabisuke Inoue
- Nobuko Miyamoto as Chizuko Amamiya
- Kin Sugai as Kikue Amamiya
- Hideji Ôtaki as Shokichi Amamiya
References
- 第８回日本アカデミー賞優秀作品 (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 March 2013.
- "The Funeral (1984-The Criterion Collection". Retrieved 12 November 2023.
- "Listings – Sunday, 8th March 1992". The Television & Radio Database. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
External links
| Films directed by Juzo Itami | |
|---|---|
|
 | This article related to a Japanese film of the 1980s is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
 | This film article about a 1980s comedy film is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
- 1984 films
- 1980s Japanese-language films
- Japanese sex comedy films
- 1984 directorial debut films
- Films directed by Jūzō Itami
- Picture of the Year Japan Academy Prize winners
- 1980s sex comedy films
- Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners
- 1984 comedy films
- Films about funerals
- 1980s Japanese films
- 1980s Japanese film stubs
- 1980s comedy film stubs