Funerals make frequent appearances in Japanese movies, although normally they’re sidebars to the primary story. The few that middle on them, reminiscent of Yukihiro Morigaki’s “Goodbye, Grandpa!” (2017) and Juzo Itami’s much better “The Funeral” (1984), normally add comedy to the combination — Morigaki’s model being broad and apparent, whereas Itami’s is sensible and pointed.
This displays the fact of Japanese funerals, by which the solemnity of the Buddhist chanting is offset by the alcohol-fueled raucousness of the wake. (That is from my private expertise; yours could also be completely different.)
The most recent Japanese movie targeted on final rites is Noriko Yuasa’s bold but patchy “Performing Kaoru’s Funeral,” which falls someplace between Morigaki and Itami’s choices on the standard scale.
