I read Jeremy Mathews's DVD review of Departures at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=42146 and...would suggest he view "The Funeral," a 1980s film by Juzo Itami. This shows how funerals were performed before the profession of encoffinment was created, and is a pretty funny and involving film in and of itself. I liked Departures, but it may have been that I looked at it in context.