Hankyu Densha

If you are the type who believes that things happen on the train and there are a lesson or two to learn, then you probably would like the movie Hankyu Densha (阪急電車, 片道15分の奇跡).

Starring Miki Nakatani, the story revolves around this particular railway line called the Hankyu Dentetsu in Kansai, Japan. A one-way trip from start to end takes 15 minutes. 15 life-changing minutes. You have a grandma who is trying to instil the right values to her granddaughter (oh I love the scene when she shook her head at the train-full of people playing with their mobile phones), a OL whose boyfriend broke up with her to marry her junior, a girl stuck with her handsome yet abusive boyfriend, a housewife who was under peer pressure to join a group of noisy taitais, and a few more characters.

They are daily commuters of the railway line just like you and me, each with his/her own set of life problems. Started off as strangers, they slowly crossed path. One by one they started healing one another, each one turning over a new leaf in life.

No it's not like Densha Otoko, although both movies were adapted from novel of the same titles. There's something to learn from each character's story, and I think one message in common is that we have to take charge of our life, not others.

A return journey may take you back to where you started, but you would have become a different person by then.