Departures

Departures is a 2008 Japanese drama film by Yōjirō Takita. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Oscars in 2009 and the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year at the 32nd Japan Academy Prize.
Cast

Masahiro Motoki

Daigo Kobayashi

Ryoko Hirosue

Mika Kobayashi

Tsutomu Yamazaki

Ikuei Sasaki

Kimiko Yo

Yuriko Uemura

Takashi Sasano

Shokichi Hirata

Departures is a beautiful movie about love, redemption, forgiveness and understanding.  It shows you how in the middle of grievance you can find love and lessons of life. The cast is magnificent, the music is beautiful and even though the theme can seem depressing, the message which it brings goes beyond to show the real meaning of life and the reason for the way some things happen.  And in the elegant Japanese manner, there is  sweetness and respect in the way the characters depicted treat each other.
 I loved the story of the Stone Letter: "Long before writing, you would send someone a stone that suited the way you were feeling.  From its weight and touch they'd know how you felt.  From a smooth stone they might feel that you were happy; from a rough one, that you were worried about them".  So the next time you want to convey message of your feelings to somebody, just send them the appropriate stone.