The film opens with Aoi Arakawa (Ryuya Wakaba) and his girlfriend Yuki (Moeka Hoshi) in the middle of breaking up. It is Yuki’s birthday, but after confessing to infidelity she confirms that she wants to split. Aoi works at a second-hand clothes store in Shimokitazawa, an area popular with young people. Fuyuko Tanabe (Kotone Furukawa), who works at a nearby bookstore, shows interest in him, but the inexperienced Aoi seems unable to pick up on such signals. A student film-maker, Machiko (Minori Hagiwara), a regular at his shop, asks him to appear in her project; a task which Aoi is singularly unsuited to, his acting proving so poor that he is cut from the finished film. After the filming he has a heartfelt conversation with Iha JoJo (Seina Nakata), a crew member on the production. Meanwhile, Yuki is regretting her decision to leave him.
“On the Street” is a slice-of-life drama about relationships, with lengthy conversations between characters. Writer-director Rikiya Imaizumi keeps the focus on these dialogues between Aoi, the women he encounters, and his friends. The naturalistic acting and realistic and relatable script provide a window into their worlds. With a mostly static camera, the film is almost documentary-like as we see coffee houses, music clubs, pubs, and apartments, and witness the everyday lives of the characters. Through these long takes we develop a familiarity with them, feeling as if we are simply hanging out with a group of regular people. The scene between Aoi and JoJo is one of the best moments of the film, as they sit and discuss various topics of little importance, just learning how to relate to one another. All of the actors do a great job, with their naturalistic performances in stark contrast to the terrible job Aoi does of acting in Machiko’s student film. “On the Street” is a film that you have to relax into without the expectation of any stunning revelation or melodrama. What the film instead provides is an insight into aspects of human relationships, along with some genuinely funny humour deriving from the characters and situations. In particular, the police officer who appears at times and begins on a bizarre unprompted confession about his personal life; and the scene in which there is a misunderstanding about who is dating who. There are also interesting artistic touches such as the mirroring of certain scenes, as between Aoi and Yuki at the beginning, a dynamic that is repeated later with Yuki and another character; and the reappearance of the police officer. These patterns and repetitions happen naturally, but suggest that there is order in the seeming chaos, or that the characters are bound to the same cycle of make-ups and break-ups, that their lives are a rhythmic flow rather than a monotonous drone.
“On the Street” is a film that emphasizes realism above all else. The conversation between Aoi and the coffee house owner, where they discuss the value of art, film, literature, and culture, makes this clear. It is never fully expressed what they mean by this, but there is a distinction implied between life and art. Similarly, in Machiko’s production we see Aoi completely unable to act a scene in which he simply has to read a book, an activity which he spends every day doing naturally. This is also evidenced in the fact that Aoi’s scene is eventually cut from the film, something that Tanabe takes offence to as she practiced the scene with him previously. If you are looking for a brilliant slice-of-life relationship drama, “On the Street” offers a relaxing watch, with great performances and a script that is relatable and full of humour.
