Funerals are just about as common in Japanese family dramas as weddings, but few films make them the focus of the story. The funniest would be Juzo Itami's "The Funeral," a 1984 black comedy about two married middle-aged urbanites negotiating the intricacies of a traditional Japanese funeral when the wife's ornery father dies.
First-time feature director Yukihiro Morigaki's "Goodbye, Grandpa!" is similar in theme, different in treatment. In place of Itami's sharp observational comedy, Morigaki opts for broad comic strokes and feel-good dramatic tropes.
Based on Sahoko Yamasaki's original script and premiering in the Japanese Cinema Splash section at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival, "Goodbye, Grandpa!" is nonetheless perceptive about how death impacts the family of the deceased title grandpa, from grandkids who barely remember him to adult children nursing old grudges. Dad gets lost in the shuffle — or rather the explosions of anger that descend into slapstick.
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