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.
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