Watch Train Man For Free

Good concept, poorly executed.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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.

I had first heard about Densha Otako (train man) when I went to an convention that I attend regularly. It was the TV series, a spin off from the movie. And it was really hilarious. I wanted to learn more about it, so I went to a local Asian pop culture place that I know of and inquired about it. The proprietors of the shop then showed me the movie. Even though is was not at all like I had expected, it was still one of the best that I has ever seen. The movie does keep it real from what I've seen from the TV series, and down plays the comedy while emphasizing the romantic aspects of it. The split screens between the people who chat on the site in the movie are awesome, and how is received on the movie is fantastic. It just goes to show you that even geeks can find love in all the right places. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a true romantic movie such as this.

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.

If you've spent much time chatting on the Internet, you've probably had a conversation along these lines at some point: "They should make a movie like this!" "Naah... who wants to see a movie about a bunch of people sitting at computers typing?" Densha Otoko finally answers that question, and does it in superb style. By use of split-screen, and computer text overlaid on real environments, it makes the online chats visually interesting and fast-paced.But this isn't just some technical storytelling exercise. At its heart, it's a funny and charming romance. Unlike just about every other "naive protagonist gets dating advice" movie, this one is astonishingly pure-hearted.On consideration, I dropped it a point because I felt the character of the love-interest was under-developed. Her role in the romance never quite got fully believable. As even the minor characters are properly developed, perhaps she was intentionally left as a mysterious figure.I really hope this gets a wider audience outside Japan. This is a wonderful, wonderful film, but the central role played by typed Japanese text is going to be a barrier to international audiences. Perhaps the best we can hope for is a competent Hollywood remake. Please, no Jennifer Lopez.