is a 1984 Japanese comedy film by

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Juzo Itami , born , was a Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director. He directed eleven films (one short and ten features), all of which he wrote himself. Early life Itami was born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi in Kyoto. The name Itami was passed on from his fath ...

. The film shows the preparations for a traditional Japanese

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

. 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 the writing and directing debut of Itami Juzo, and was an enormous success in Japan. It won five

Japanese Academy Awards The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

in 1985, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor for

Tsutomu Yamazaki is a Japanese actor. He won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor in 1984 for '' The Funeral'' and '' Farewell to the Ark''. Yamazaki is well known for his role "Nenbutsu no Tetsu" on the television jidaigeki '' Hissatsu Shiokinin'' and ''Shin Hi ...

. It was nominated in a further five categories and also came first in the annual ''Kinema Junpo'' critics' poll.

Plot

Shinkichi Amamiya (

Hideji Otaki Hideji (written: 秀治, 秀司 or ひで次) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese writer and playwright *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese actor {{given name Japane ...

) is a difficult 69-year-old man, married to Kikue (

Kin Sugai (28 February 1926 – 10 August 2018) was a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 9th Hochi Film Award for '' The Funeral''. Sugai is famous for her role as Sen Nakamura in the jidaigeki drama Hissatsu series. Sh ...

). He dies suddenly of a heart attack, and it falls to his daughter Chizuko (

Nobuko Miyamoto is a Japanese actress. She was born in Otaru, Hokkaidō, and raised in Nagoya. She was married to director Juzo Itami from 1969 until his death in 1997, and regularly starred in his films. She has been nominated for eight Best Actress Japane ...

) and son-in-law Wabisuke Inoue (

) 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 is a mallet team sport inspired by croquet. It is a fast-paced, non-contact, highly strategic team game, which can be played by anyone regardless of age or gender. Gateball is most popular in China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, with ...

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.

References

External links

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New York Times review1994 LA Times review
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-comedy-film-stub