Born Bone Born - CinemAsia

Four years after the matriarch’s death, the Shinjo family has come together on Aguni Island for senkotsu, an ancient Okinawa ritual that offers people the chance for a final farewell to their loved ones. However, siblings Yuko and Tsuyoshi have returned with unexpected surprises and old grudges to be solved.

This bone-dry comedy depicts a fractured family that just happens to need a nearly-extinct burial tradition to put it back together. Despite the madcap burlesque, director Toshiyuki Teruya (also known as Gori in popular comedic duo Garage Sale) can’t hide his affection for his picturesque seaside hometown and its offbeat characters. The concept of senkotsu may sound morbid even to Japanese, but the characters’ enactment of this ritual culminates in a moving finale. Okinawa boasts the world’s longest living people; this film reveals their philosophy about the circle of life and death that may explain their good health. Winner of Audience Award at Japan Cuts, New York.