Densha otoko

This film is apparently based on a true story about a nerdy computer/anime geek who is very shy who saves a young lady from a drunk on the train. Their relationship slowly develops from there. As the train man, Takayuki Yamada does a very good job being angst ridden as he goes out with the very pretty Miki Nakatani. He has a support network of computer geeks who give him dating advice, root for him and sometimes envy him. Its this element that makes the movie a lot of fun. The film is quintessentially Japanese, as Tokyo comes alive, full of bright lights and ultra modern. You want to fast forward to see what happens, but don't. Just enjoy it, its a nice story well filmed and with good acting. I recommend it to any fan of romantic comedy.

I suppose every society has something like this: a superficially manufactured product, targeted at clumsy boys (and sometimes girls) whose only intent is to assure them that their clumsiness is endearing. Don't grow up, it allows, you will find movie romance.

In this case, our dweeb stumbles upon a princess and each stumble and successive misstep brings him closer to her. He's honest and endearing you see. The narrative folding here (where the audience has an on screen equivalent) comes from his internet buddies.

Presumably, most of these only know our hero through the chat room and have no idea what he is like in person. This rather numerous bunch get every detail reported to them just as we the "real" viewers see. They comment and encourage, just as we are meant to, cheering him on, giving him the courage to chase his dream and be fulfilled as a man. Its a simple narrative fold. The story and the point of the story are both revoltingly trite.

There is an interesting detail though. Among his internet buddies are three guys even more nerdy than he. They seem to live together, but only have a life on-line. The conflating of their online life with the story we see is odd: they shift into a war movie where the "advancement" of the romance is equated with advancing on a battlefield. Elsewhere, this is completed by others and even the girl encouraging our guy to "be brave."

This is no "All About Lilly Chow Chow," which I aggressively recommend. That is deep; this is not.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Speaking as a member of the computer geek community, this film accurately portrays what it's like to be today's connected computer geek with absolutely no social skills. ...and what it's like for them to date someone from outside that community of geeks. (Wow; I'm glad I'm more socialized now than I was). This reminds me a lot of the love stories found in anime cartoons. Great acting, great plot twists. But the characters are not deep enough for this to be a truly great movie that would merit a 10/10 vote. This is a movie with real actors on the screen, not cartoons, but the characters are as two-dimensional as a cartoon. Oh; I need an obligatory 10th line: Um, I was surprised I couldn't find it on Netflix. (that should do it...)

This movie is good. The acting is very good for a bunch of people who you have never heard of (maybe they are well known actors in Japan but here I have never heard of them before in my life), I liked them and the characters they were playing. I identified with them and ended up almost crying several times at what was going on between them in the movie.

It's a very moving and touching movie but also quite funny at times. It is a very simple premise but it kept our interest through the whole movie. The only real downside is that the way the story is told sometimes gets a bit boring visually.

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.