The Route 20 National Road (国道20号線) 17 years old

The Route 20 National Road

Hisashi was once a member of a motorcycle gang. Now he plays pachinko everyday with his live-in girlfriend, Junko. He has a habit of "huffing" paint thinner. His debts accumulate every day. Hisashi's old friend from the gang, Ozawa is a loan shark. He persuades Hisashi to join his easy-money-making scheme, "Quit inhaling paint thinner and score big with me!" Hisashi's dead-end life is made up of the same things that symbolize contemporary rural Japan: Karaoke clubs, pachinko parlors, ATM loan machines and discount outlets along a highway. In this ordinary place that is just like hundreds of other small towns in Japan, Hisashi sees the darkness. Darkness that is out of the reach of neon lights along the highway. In the vacuum of this darkness, life repeats itself endlessly. Hisashi has a flashback of a paint-thinner trip he once had. The hallucination tempts him to the other side. Tantalized, he asks himself, "Can I really go?

Credits

The Route 20 National Road Cast

Name Character
Masahiko Nishimura He was 46, now 64 years old
Tsuyoshi Takano He was 23, now 41 years old

The Route 20 National Road Crew

Name Department
Katsuya Tomita as Director. He was 34 (now 52) years old Directing
Katsuya Tomita as Writer. He was 34 (now 52) years old Writing
The Route 20 National Road poster
The Route 20 National Road (17 years)

  • Release day: Monday, January 01, 2007
  • Runtime: 77 minutes