In the midst of the myriad movies and television shows that, over the years, have dealt in one way or another with death, from the saccharine Heaven Can Wait to the skin-crawling Dexter, an Oscar winning Japanese movie called Departures is available on DVD and Netflix Watch Instantly. This film is funny, reverent, perhaps a little corny at the very end, but so engaging and likable that you will be gripped from first frame to last, often with tears in your eyes.

Daigo Kobayashi is a young cellist playing in a minor Tokyo symphony orchestra that has fewer subscribers than a small poetry magazine. When the ax falls on the classical troupe, Daigo reevaluates his musical talent and decides to leave Tokyo, and the cello, and return to his hometown: a small rural hamlet amidst beautiful country in full view of Mount Fuji.

To his surprise, his charming wife, Mika, agrees wholeheartedly – or at least she says she does – with his decision.

They have a place to live because Daigo inherited the family home two years previously, after his mother died. This all sounds perfectly bucolic except for two considerations: neither husband nor wife has a job, and Daigo has a chip on his shoulder almost as big as Fuji – the symbolism is clear – due to his father abandoning him when he was only four years old.

One morning over breakfast, Daigo sees a want ad in the local newspaper for a position requiring no experience and which deals with “departures.” He figures the job is with a travel agency, so he walks to the establishment, talks to the “boss,” and is immediately hired.

The problem is that the word “departures” is a misprint for “the departed,” and the boss is an expert in “casketing” – preparing the dead for burial – and he needs an assistant. He is so calmly and respectfully persuasive that Daigo agrees, with some trepidation, to take the job.

I have not given away very much of the story. What I have told you all happens within the first few minutes of the movie. What follows is an emotional journey that shines a bright light on the depths of true love between husband and wife and between parent and child, without ignoring the great perils these relationships force us to face and, if we’re fortunate, overcome.

Daigo’s initial reactions to the work he must do are exactly those I imagine I would have in his place. I could not help but laugh – not at Daigo, but in complete sympathy with him – as he accommodates himself to his new profession. He learns fast, and the reverent beauty of the traditional Japanese ritual burial ceremony makes what he does inspiring to watch.

The beautiful Mika is a quiet, taciturn young woman, and at first a bit of an enigma, but once we get to know her, her facial expressions are enough to take us on another kind of emotional journey, one from skepticism and loathing to acceptance and respect.

If only we treated the living with as much respect as Daigo, his boss, and eventually even Mika treat the dead, this world might really become a wonderful place for all.