The Funeral (Criterion Collection)

When a crotchety Izu oldster (Hideji Otaki) abruptly dies, his daughter (Nobuko Miyamoto) and son-in-law (Tsutomu Yamazaki)--both TV actors--drop everything to ensure he receives a proper Buddhist funeral. However, the privileged pair don't have the first clue as how to proceed...and the assorted mishaps that ensue over the following three days inform this dryly funny and observational feature directing bow from Juzo Itami ("Tampopo"). 124 min. Standard; Soundtrack: Japanese; Subtitles: English; featurettes; theatrical trailers; more. In Japanese with English subtitles.