The Drudgery Train (2012)

A Movie That Makes One Care Deeply About a Loser

A serious, moving and brutally realistic movie about a 20-something loser who is continually attending peep shows and has a proclivity for offending people. Nevertheless, the screenplay and director did that miraculous thing of making the audience deeply feel for this character.

The lead is, indeed, a loser, and not a "likeable loser" either, as many movies would portray, because the film does not gloss anything over or shade it in pink. This poor sap has never been taught social skills because he had no family, nor schooling. He had to drop out in 8th grade and go to work as a young teen (I guess high school is not mandatory in Japan as it is in the USA). My heart broke for him as it went on, even as I was constantly cringing and thinking, "Noooo, don't do that!" because I was so afraid he'd commit yet another anti-social act while being utterly clueless as to the fact that he was doing so.

But as heartbreaking as it was, it did end well with the lead sitting down to write, and thus having the promise of a career as a writer. This is not a spoiler because, you see, the movie is based on an autobiographical novel. Meaning, the lead was based on the novel writer who had written about truly having had this kind of life.

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