Going, going

It doesn't sound at all promising, I grant you: a film about a professional cellist who loses his Tokyo job when his orchestra is disbanded, and he knows he's not good enough to find another. So he returns to his home town and gets work as a, er, sort of undertaker.


That Departures is, in fact, one of the most joyful, transcendent, life-affirming films of the last few years is a credit to everyone involved.


Delicately witty, weaving a very humanist path through the formal rituals associated with a Japanese death, much of the magic depends on a towering performance by the central actor, Masahiro Motoki.


Now in his mid-40s, it doesn't hurt at all that Masahiro is so very, very easy on the eye...


He began his career as a member of a boy-band, before shifting into modelling and acting. In his mid-20s, he was the model for a rather audacious series by photographer Kishin Shinyoma:


Chiselled cheekbones, an amazing mouth...


And a perfectly-sized winkie, by the looks of things:


He doesn't show us quite this much in Departures, alas, though there is a particular scene involving cotton wool and forceps that may well bring a tear to your eye.


I don't want to distract you from the brilliance of the film with this rather enticing series of the lovely Masohiro.


But with that image of a springy bush of pubey goodness, how could you now resist seeing his film?