Chicken Heart (2002)

Recommended

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: チキン・ハート

Writer/Director: Shimizu Hiroshi

Cinematographer: Takase Hiroshi

Composer: Suzuki Keiichi

Cast: Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Imawano Kiyoshiro, Matsuo Suzuki, Mabuchi Erika, Haruki Misayo, Omi Toshinori, Araki Nobuyoshi, Kishibe Ittoku

Three sort-of friends, who eke out a living during the day by scrubbing graffiti off walls, selling toupees, and handing out insurance leaflets on the street, spend their evenings providing a service as a human punching bag to stressed out businessmen, eating and drinking at an illegal food stall, and generally dreaming of a better future, in Shimizu’s hugely likeable second feature, which gradually develops from hilariously bizarre comedy to touching character study as it progresses towards its melancholically tender finale. Iain.Stott