I was in a thread earlier today that was about ''That film you've had for the longest time but keep putting off watching'', Adrift in Tokyo is that film for me, and it was a wake-up call to finally watch it.

Adrift in Tokyo is a charming meandering tale of two characters who are equally lonely and lost and are brought together through strange circumstances for a short period of time. The casting is perfect, both lead actors really play off each other and the connection seems real, it is sad to see them inevitably part ways at the end of the film, you really get emotionally involved with these two, the characters were very well written. It is very…

Easily the most straightforward of Satoshi Miki's films I've seen to date, this follows two men taking a walk across Tokyo. The day before one of them attempts to collect a debt from the other, then the next day the debt collector will write it all off so long as he takes him for a walk. No time scale, no questions asked, not knowing what he'll be doing or where he's going. As things unfold, both share secrets, moments and weirdness together as infact the main duo are the most relatively normal in the film. There's flashes or quirkiness throughout but this is more subtle humour than Turtles Are The Fastest Swimmers and dives deeper than Instant Swap. I did…

I was in a thread earlier today that was about ''That film you've had for the longest time but keep putting off watching'', Adrift in Tokyo is that film for me, and it was a wake-up call to finally watch it.

Adrift in Tokyo is a charming meandering tale of two characters who are equally lonely and lost and are brought together through strange circumstances for a short period of time. The casting is perfect, both lead actors really play off each other and the connection seems real, it is sad to see them inevitably part ways at the end of the film, you really get emotionally involved with these two, the characters were very well written. It is very…

This is an oddly compelling film, at once dramatic and comedic, serious and lighthearted. There are moments of downright surreal humor and yet for the most part, the film is fairly serious. Somehow, this dichotomy in mood and tone works.

The story is engaging from the start, and though it may drag at parts (or go off on tangents at others), I never once found myself bored by it. The relationship that develops between the film's protagonist and antagonist is what drives the story; I truly found myself lost in the story and hoping for the best for both characters - one looking for family, the other for redemption and a sense of peace.

Though the film's premise is quite…

Review from my VOD column "This Week on Demand".

Few student loan repayments are as daunting as Takemura’s: harassed by omnipresent debt collector Fukuhara, he accepts the offer to have the loan forgotten in exchange for his accompaniment on a number of walks throughout the Japanese capital. Thus begins the ephemeral oddity of Adrift in Tokyo, its character’s short relationship gradually enlivened with revelations of wrongdoing on both sides as they simply walk and talk together. Satoshi Miki crafts a screenplay of amusing goofiness, his episodic structure allowing for plentiful indulgences in near-surreal vignettes with strange supporting characters whose oddball antics frame the gradually deepening dramatic subtext of the film. Such is the silliness of so much of the story,…