Train Man (Densha otoko)

(2005)
Sight unseen on this one which is a stupid way to say it I guess because every movie you havent seen is sight unseen, but I digress, as I often do. More accurate to say I knew very little about this film other than it was Japanese, and that my friend Mike at work, who knows more about Japanese cinema than I do, was eager to see it as well. Train Man follows our titular character (he is called only Train Man in the film), an otaku (Japanese for super-nerd) who lives in his toy-filled bedroom at his parents house and is the prototypical shy dorky guy. A chance encounter allows him to help out a fellow train passenger who is being harassed by a drunk, and he exchanges addresses with the young woman, who is grateful for his help. She sends him a gift in gratitude, but the gift seems out of proportion to the minor help he afforded her. As a young nerd, naturally he blogs, and we see several of his followers young men, women, a nurse, etc. all assure him that no, this means something, the gift is too special to say anything otherwise. And so his online chorus alternately cajoles and presses him into asking the girl for a date. She agrees. Its not your typical boy-meets-girl, though; the film gives a fair amount of air-time to Train Mans online followers, most of whom are very well cast, played, and written. The romance between the two leads develops slowly, and is a little saccharine at times, but by and large is convincing and well done. The acting is pretty good throughout, and a few scenes really stand out (particularly where the woman realizes that Train Man is deeply in love with her, though he could never articulate the words to her). The ending is d-r-a-w-n out, however, and gets a little too sappy even for my tastes, and I like ooey gooey romance when it is done well. But a little melodrama and an overdone climax cant detract much from a well made movie, and the high spots more than make up for any weakness at the end. Train Man is a sweet, tender, and often funny movie about a young otaku falling in love, a story well told with excellent details and solid acting. In America we would tend to label it a chick flick and probably dismiss it, but that would be our mistake. Worth tracking down. September 6, 2010