At the very start of THE DRUDGERY TRAIN, the narrator tells us a couple of pertinent facts about Kanta Kitamachi at that prove to be significant to the direction his life is going. Kanta is 19 year-old, his father committed a sex crime that broke up his family while he was in 5th Grade, and since dropping out of school after graduating junior high, Kanta has only had work as a day labourer. The freeze-frame image of him leaving a seedy peep-show joint during this opening narration speaks for itself.

A day labourer, with no contract and no rights, Kanta has little opportunity for advancement out of this life of back-breaking manual labour. What little money he earns he spends on alcohol, on peep shows and massage parlours and, owing four months' rent, he's about to be thrown out of his cheap rented accommodation. Kanta however is not entirely beyond hope. He loves reading and has a crush on the girl who works at the bookstore, but he confuses sex with his need for the warmth of human contact and friendship. His means of expression is so awkward, crude and inappropriate that he ends up alienating everyone close to him and getting his head kicked in by those less sympathetic towards him.

Based on a novel by Kenta Nishimura, one suspects that there's some autobiographical content in Kenta's story, so it might be a stretch to extrapolate an individual anecdotal story to see it as a reflection of a generational problem. Undoubtedly however it would seem like Kanta's education, his development as a young man, his relationships and his prospects for the future in post-bubble economy Japan have indeed been influenced or affected to some extent by the actions of his elders, as is suggested by the unspecified sex crime of his father. "Nothing good will happen to you for the rest of your life" a work colleague tells him, and indeed it's hard to see how Kanta can turn his life around. Is it a kicking Kenta needs or a kick up the pants?

Kanta is a young man working as a day manual labourer, a role he drifted into after leaving school as soon as the law allowed. Living hand-to-mouth, stuck in a cycle of drink abuse, visits to prostitutes, and dead-end jobs, a glimmer of hope appears when he is befriended by Shoji, who offers up catalyst opportunities with the cute girl in the local bookstore. However, the demons Kanta carries inside him are not so easily exorcised.

Screenwriter Shinji Imaoka offers up a fascinating character study, superbly executed by Mirai Moriyama in an outstanding performance. From beginning to end, we are forced to shift our understanding of Kanta. You cannot help but pity a man - at 19 still in many ways a child - who has had to carry the burden of having a convicted sex offender for a father during his formative years. But then he does something disgusting like lick a girl's hand and you begin to suspect nature may win out over nurture. Aimless, amoral, conniving and at times misanthropic, Kanta is nonetheless human and frail. You see few paths for redemption in a modern Japan where Kanta's coworker is summarily dispensed with when a workplace accident renders him disabled, and for Kanta, the only avenue of negotiation for rent disputes are threats and insincere apologies.

Director Yamashita keeps it all plausible and authentic. At times Kanta's excesses evoke visceral disgust, as his various methods of ejecting bodily fluids - and one attempt at solids - are framed in close-up. At other times there is a light, jaunty tone to proceedings, often dictated by the music which may just be deployed ironically, given the hopeless drudgery of Kanta's day-to-day existence. The comedy is threaded in nicely, and never done for its own sake. Kanta's re-union with his ex-girlfriend and her new beau is funny and terrifying in equal measure. Kanta seems to have the worst life imaginable, till we meet his ex and glimpse the hellhole existence she endures.

Kengo Kôra plays Shoji as a guy trying to do his best for a friend while never losing his wariness. His patience is admirable, and the loss of it forgivable. Atsuko Maeda as love object Yasuko injects a difficult role with an element of mystery. Quite why such a well-balanced, intelligent young woman would indulge a shifty, creepy NEET is an active question that Imaoka's writing and Maeda's acting skill make come alive. In the hands of lesser talent, this would appear a flaw in the narrative. In modern-day Japan isolation, loneliness and withdrawal from society is practically an epidemic, and all three characters in some way embody elements of this.

In the end, Kanta may have found an escape. Or we may be seeing the dream that is the regret of a dying man in a rubbish heap. The film fittingly concludes with questions rather than answers. The social commentary is apt and incisive, but it is the character of Kanta, as unfathomable and memorable as Travis Bickle, that stays with you long after the final credits.

Mid to late 80s economic bubble is finishing a time where day labor workers where in demand in some Tokyo areas; that s the context that serves of curtain drop for this story. Raw; that s what the main character is; I know plenty of these beings. I think that they tend to have some kind of mental retardation, among lack of education and social skills. He only knows to deal the basic way in all the fronts; mainly lying around. May be the director tried to show a character that does not find his place or way in a modern urbanized society. Mirai Moriyama is perfect in the roll; the face, the expressions, gestures, movements. Great acting. Shinji Imaoka is the screen writer; putting some pinku moments. There s few camera shots that are very good and out of the norm. Good movie.