Buttering this morning of subdued light and sound with Yōjirō Takita’s film Okuribito and one cup of double-shot espresso, perfected with reddish-brown crema, was a glee in my minimalistic day. Masahiro Motoki and Tsutomu Yamazaki’s performances, deliciously sandwiched with Joe Hisaishi’s film music, brewed a tissue of glutinous emotions tailing me all the way to the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in the Old Market District in Omaha.

The nimble atmosphere of the gallery opening in Bemis oddly counterpointed with frozenly muted streets in the Old Market District. I strolled through the Old Market Passage with composure to avoid direct confrontations with this astonishingly unmusical wintery weather. Suddenly, the encoffinment scenes from Okuribito started to sing, like a soundless stream, thwarting and heartening minutes and seconds of my life.

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts | 2010 | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang