Sakura Ando gives an outstanding performance in a film that fails to match her levels, and ultimately frustrates. Director Masaharu Take seems unsure of the journey our protagonist Ichiko is on. She is introduced to us as a recognizable hotchpotch of archetypes from recent Japanese cultural output - the slacker, the parasite single, the socially withdrawn hikikomori, the thirty-something virgin, the dame-ren unable to hold down regular employment, playing video games all day instead. When her family has finally had enough and turfs her out, she finds a dead-end job in a 100-yen convenience store. Her boss is over-bearing, and a particularly creepy co-worker takes a sinister interest in Ichiko. When she spots Yuji (Hirofumi Arai) at a local boxing gym, she finally shows a spark of interest in life beyond just existing.

These are the ingredients, but it is uncertain that writer Shin Adachi knows how to combine them into a satisfying dish. The creepy co-worker rapes Ichiko, an episode that is simply glossed over. Tonally, there is too much uncertainty around this incident. Does the film not examine it in order to offer up the banality of evil? Or are the filmmakers simply glib and tone deaf?

This is indicative of an unevenness, a cartoon-ish approach to cause and effect, that permeates the film. Ichiko is kind, offering expired food to hungry beggars, but these beggars are more Dickensian scamps than social commentary on contemporary Japan. Yuji abuses Ichiko terribly, yet she meekly goes off hand-in-hand with him at the end. Are we supposed to think that this woman who has been abused by the only two men she ever dated has now turned her life around? Ichiko's failure to break free at the end, taken at face value, is Chinatown bleak indeed. Despite her acquired prowess in boxing, emotionally she is worse off than when the film started.

It would be interesting to see what female filmmakers would have done with this protagonist. Ando's performance is faultless, but that is not enough to save this film against the mountain of problematic elements.

From almost scrap wood to sunshine step by step, although the final result is still flat, but this is true, Loser's life has no climax. Unfortunately, I don't like this Japanese decadent style, the dull expression of the first hour, the deliberate dark scenes, the relationship between the deformed people and the characters, and even the large plot of the 100-yuan convenience store, I can't see the relationship with the main line.

I am pretty sure that most of us here are never ever going to be the best in the world, just like the protagonist here. Yes, she started off as a perfect loser then put more effort than any others. Yet, her effort was never good enough since she found her passion too late. This is life to be honest. You might find your talent late, and the reality might hit you too hard to the point you might think it is impossible to achieve anything. However, she achieved something greater than a win in regional boxing match; her purpose on life.

From then on, she is most likely to have no climax in her life just like most of us. Yet, that isn't too bad of a life as long as she has a goal to achieve.