A train full of lonely hearts, one very indecisive bachelor, and zero cell phones to save anyone.
Comedy of manners set on the "Kodama" train between Tokyo and Osaka, before the opening of the Shinkansen. In the leading role, Frankie Sakai plays a straightforward but indecisive hero. The passengers also include the bubbly Dan Reiko, and Ozawa Eitaro as a dour company president. Based on the novel "Seven and a half hours", by Shishi Bunroku.
Acting
Frankie Sakai's physical comedy as the ultimate waffling bachelor.
Direction
Kawashima's cramped train choreography builds perfect comic tension.
Production
The real Kodama train car is a claustrophobic character itself.
Director
Yūzō Kawashima
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Kodama was Japan's premier limited express; its 1964 replacement by the Shinkansen made this film an accidental time capsule of pre-bullet-train travel.
Shishi Bunroku's novel was banned during WWII for mocking the middle class; Kawashima's adaptation sneaks that same bite under studio comedy demands.
JP
