Yōjirō Takita creates a film that is both beautiful and surprising. We see this in the preparation of the first body shown in the film. Daigo is proceeding for the first time to do the ritual washing of a woman, and it is the reveal of the woman's hands by Takita that brings to life the significance of a life. To hold a hand no more, we see the fragility of life. And then we are surprised by Daigo's finding that the beautiful woman is a man while washing the body. Takita is able to bring great depth and a necessity for lightness to the film.
Takita also reveals the difficulty of death through the eyes of Daigo. We watch him with the very first experience of seeing a corpse, he gags. Daigo does not have the resolve nor the understanding to deal with death as his boss and soon to be mentor does. The director is effective at taking Ikuei's character from a man that appears dispassionate to one who truly understands his craft and the meaning of life through death. We see this clearly in the scene where Ikuei prepares the body of wife of a man who is unhappy Ikuei is late. He is able to turn his anger in mourning into an understanding of beauty for the passage of his wife into the afterlife.
Takita also tells a story of how death also brings life. Daigo's dream of being a cellist dies and brings new life through returning home. Thus the comparison of the salmon attempting to make their way upstream, in the same way Daigo is seeking to find "home." The film examines many cultural taboos and opens the door for a conversation about death and the shame of being a nōkanshi.
