Film

The Funeral

Other titles called The Funeral: the 1996 film.

Juzo Itami's debut is a deadpan comedy about a family navigating the rituals and absurdities of a traditional Japanese funeral. Over three days, the household erupts into bickering, slapstick, and sudden tenderness. It's a film that understands how grief and chaos coexist, and finds comedy in the desperate human need to do things "right" when everything is already wrong.

TMDb rating3.6

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Tampopo1985

Itami's follow-up is even more inventive—a "ramen western" that treats food and ritual with the same affectionate mockery. If you loved the deadpan ensemble energy of The Funeral, this expands it into something wilder.

But It's more deliberately surreal and fragmented, with extended sketches that don't always connect. The tone can feel scattershot if you want traditional narrative.

Tampopo poster

Tokyo Story1953

Ozu's masterpiece about elderly parents visiting their son in Tokyo. Like The Funeral, it finds profound emotion in domestic routine and family dysfunction—but with Ozu's patient, almost spiritual approach to the everyday.

But It moves at a deliberate pace with no plot in the conventional sense. If you want comedy and energy, this is contemplative and quiet.

Tokyo Story poster

Ikiru1952

Kurosawa's film about a dying man finding meaning is a spiritual inverse—serious where The Funeral is comedic, but both examine ritual, family obligation, and what we leave behind with equal gravity.

But It's a heavy existential drama. The tone is austere and the pacing slow. You're not watching this for laughs.

Ikiru poster

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Mon Oncle1958

Comedy about how families and communities navigate tradition and change; both filmmakers find the sacred and the absurd in the same small moments.

Jacques Tati's film about the clash between old and new Paris, between working-class warmth and sterile modernity. Like The Funeral, it's a comedy built from the textures of daily life—but Tati works in visual gags and silence where Itami uses chaos and dialogue. Both love ritual; both find it ridiculous and necessary at once.

But Tati's comedy is observational and wordless. If you need plot or emotion spelled out, the abstraction can feel cold.

Mon Oncle poster
More like this (8)

After Life1999

Hirokazu Koreeda's film about a way station where the dead must choose one memory to preserve. It shares The Funeral's gentle mockery of ritual and its insight into what families mean to each other.

But It's quieter and more melancholic than Itami. The payoff is emotional rather than comedic, and some may find it sentimental.

After Life poster

Spirited Away2001

Miyazaki's fantasia is grounded in Japanese family dynamics and ritual in ways that echo Itami's sensibility. Both films find the magical and absurd lurking inside tradition.

But It's a fantasy adventure for all ages. If you want adult comedy-drama rooted in realism, this takes a very different path.

Spirited Away poster

Shoplifters2018

Koreeda again, this time about a "family" held together by theft and necessity. Like The Funeral, it's a film about what family actually means when blood doesn't bind it, mixing humor with sudden vulnerability.

But It builds toward something dark and painful. The tonal shifts from comedy to tragedy can feel jarring if you're not prepared.

Shoplifters poster

A Separation2011

Asghar Farhadi's film about a divorce examines ritual, obligation, and the gap between what people say and what they mean. Tense and dark, but it shares The Funeral's interest in how families perform for each other.

But It's a legal and moral drama, not a comedy. The atmosphere is claustrophobic and the stakes feel crushing.

A Separation poster

The Taste of Things2023

Trouffaut meets Itami—a French film about a chef and his relationship with his housekeeper, full of tenderness, ritual, and the comedy of domesticity. Warm without being sentimental.

But It's a slow, sensory film about food and aging. If you want plot momentum, you won't find it.

The Taste of Things poster

Shall We Dance?1996

Masayuki Suo's film about a salaryman who takes up ballroom dancing is deceptively charming—it's really about breaking rigid social rules and finding joy in the unexpected, which resonates with Itami's subversive spirit.

But It's sweeter and lighter than The Funeral, and the romance subplot might feel familiar or slight.

Shall We Dance? poster

Secrets & Lies1996

Both films are about families forced into honesty by circumstance; both trust actors to find truth in uncomfortable silence and messy argument.

Mike Leigh's film about a Black woman discovering her white biological mother is an emotional earthquake disguised as a family drama. Like The Funeral, it's about families assembling in crisis—but Leigh goes deeper into shame, rage, and love. The acting is devastating.

But It's much darker and more emotionally intense. Leigh's improvisational style can feel raw in ways that are hard to bear.

Secrets & Lies poster

Stalker1979

Both films examine how humans impose meaning on experience through ritual and repetition, and what happens when that structure fails.

Tarkovsky's meditative science-fiction film about desire and meaning seems a world away from Itami's comedy, but both are ultimately about how people justify their lives and what they're willing to sacrifice for ritual—whether that's a funeral service or a pilgrimage to a mysterious room.

But It's glacially slow, abstract, and philosophically demanding. You must surrender to its rhythm or you'll be miserable.

Stalker poster

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Recommended by

Mom and Dad, The Dead Don't Die, The Tomb of Ligeia, When the Tenth Month Comes, The Second Circle, Kitamura Tokoku: My Winter Song, Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo