The Drudgery Train
Gruff middle school dropout Kanta Kitamachi (Mirai Moriyama) works as a day laborer and spends his money on cheap booze, peep shows and second-hand paperbacks while overdue on his rent. A perpetual loner with no social skills, Kanta unexpectedly hits it off with a new, easy-going co-worker around the same age (Kengo Kora) who tempers Kanta’s worst habits and helps him pursue his unrequited crush on a cute bookstore clerk (Atsuko Maeda). Adapted from a novel set in 1988 Tokyo, The Drudgery Train is an unconventional coming-of-age tale and class-inflected character study that manages to upend every expectation of its unlikely yet likeable hero, directed by slacker comedy auteur Nobuhiro Yamashita (Linda, Linda, Linda).
- Winner, Best Actor, 2013 Kinema Junpo Awards
- Best Newcomer (Makita Sports), 2012 Blue Ribbon Awards
“Superb.” —The Chicago Reader
“A throwback to… [Yamashita’s] black comedy beginnings, but deeper as a character study and more adventurous as a film.” —The Japan Times
Streaming in the U.S. from February 5-25 as part of 21st Century Japan: Films from 2001-2020