Densha otoko (2005)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Shosuke Murakami

Writers:

Hitori Nakano (novel)
Arisa Kaneko (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 June 2005 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A True Love Story

Plot Keywords:

Bulletin Board System | First Sexual Experience | Internet | Train | Based On Novel

Cast

Takayuki Yamada	...	Densha otoko
Miki Nakatani	...	Hermes
Ryoko Kuninaka	...	Rika
Eita	...	Hirofumi
Kuranosuke Sasaki	...	Hisashi
Tae Kimura	...	Michiko
Yoshinori Okada	...	Yoshiga
Naomi Nishida	...	Hermes's friend
Ren Osugi	...	Middle-aged man in train
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hiroki Miyake	...	Tamura
Makoto Sakamoto	...	Muto
Momoko Shimizu	...	Schoolgirl on the train

Also Known As:

Train Man (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:105 min | USA:101 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:GP | South Korea:12 | Japan:G | Hong Kong:I | Japan:U

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

The film was shot in 25 days, then released into cinemas only 35 days later.

Movie Connections:

References The Matrix (1999)

An Authentic Love Story

Densha Otoko is the true story of a young man who lives in Tokyo, but spends most of his life on his computer or shopping for anime character figurines. Unconfident in public, he has never learned how to talk to women, lacking all the social skills we have come to expect from leading characters in romance films. Usually relying on the internet as his social net, he finds himself posting messages to a popular Japanese BBS (bulleton board service chat room), asking for love advice. Much of the dialog from the original BBS posts is preserved in the film (both on-screen and spoken), and much of the supporting cast is composed of those who respond to his internet posts.

I particularly loved the film because it shows one of the most authentic views of Japanese city life of any film I've ever come across. In particular, people who live in big cities like Tokyo spend a great deal of their time on the subway, where this love story begins. Thus, after the main character has posted the story of his train encounter to the BBS, other users begin to call him Densha Otoko (Train Man). Too many recent drama films, particularly from Japan, have become too melodramatic, but Densha Otoko is a beautiful, authentic love story.