Although it is said that Vivir Es Facil con los ojos cerrados (2013) is based on an independent memoir, the similarities of the film are so pronounced that I wonder if that Spanish notable was actually written with this film in mind.
Three strangers temporarily at the seams of Japanese society, unemployed and running away from certain emotional pain, find each other on a meandering pointless road trip. The mix is one younger man, one younger woman, and one middle-aged man, must like in Vivir Es Facil.
The younger man is brash and awkward, the middle aged man experienced and sturdy, and the girl feminine - that is, supportive but hesitant. Yet the interplay of three personalities forced into a road trip isn't the main dynamic here. In fact, all three of them, young and old alike, are lost and emotionally fragile, although this fragility appears in different ways and situations.
Whereas in Vivir, the middle-aged man is a mental case, here he actually fills a little bit of his role, steadying the outbursts of the younger man providing a voice of experience and reason at various points. Yet both of the roles channel a little bit of the child. In Vivir, the man had a childlike anglophilia and love for the Beatles; here the man makes a mess of his personal life and runs away from said mess like a frightened child.
Too haphazard and strained to be a great movie, the performances are strong and I appreciated the substantial shots of rural Japan in the 1970s. The ending is surprising, even shocking, and you wouldn't expect such a simple thing to be, so that was a pleasant surprise.
Also, the Enka soundtrack is fantastic.
Honourable Mentions: Vivir es facil con los ojos cerrados (2013) - such a similar movie, you'd think they were related. A middle-aged man picks up two young runaways and they go on a road trip through Spain to so the man can go meet with one of the Beatles. Along the way there's some complaining about Franco's regime and scenes functioning as critiques of violence which are not well done. The central theme of handkerchief is more about how people are still trying to find themselves at any age and it doesn't try to get more symbolic or deep than its britches will support.
