This film is exceptionally well-named: the characters ramble around the countryside, while their conversation rambles all over the place. It’s a gentle, quirky, surprisingly appealing movie, made on a shoestring budget. No, more like made on an aglet budget (aglets being those things at the end of shoelaces that stop them unravelling). I’m not sure that the actors were actually paid, to be honest, and at least one of them has done “I’ll work on yours if you work on mine” deals with other indie film-makers. But as I said, this film ends up being warm, amusing, and well worth a watch.
There’s a lot of quiet bonding-type stuff going on, as the two main characters overcome their initial dislike of each other while rambling. This is essentially “Waiting for Godot” without the pretensions: their mutual friend Funkai arranges the jaunt then fails to show. The appearance of a girl doing a bit of topless bathing changes the dynamic without changing the bonding process, and they all kind of spiral around each other for a while.
This is also an amusing film. One scene in particular sticks in my memory: the “outdoor hot tub”. I won’t explain, just wait for it. It’s a perfect example of the deadpan humour that’s sprinkled throughout the film, just a combination of an odd situation with the Japanese dislike of speaking out. It won’t make you fall over laughing, but it will make you smile wryly and go all warm and fuzzy. And how often do you find that, these days?