Call Me Chihiro is a slow-paced character drama set in Japan. Bento-shop cashier Chihiro (Kasumi Arimura) is a former sex worker (without ever specifying what she did; sex worker is a very broad field) with a patient and sunny outlook. In the sleepy coast town she lives in Chihiro meets various people -- a homeless man, a latch-key kid, a couple of middle-school girl outcasts, an old woman going blind -- and makes positive changes in their lives.

It's a movie with barely any plot. The characters are distinct and all going through their issues and their contact with Chihiro changes their course and helps them. One of the themes is that every person is like an alien from a different planet and meeting someone from your planet is a rare occurrence. So I guess you should expect that each person is quit different from you so just accept them as they are.

Chihiro herself is also someone apart who wraps herself in loneliness. Even when she asks her former sex worker boss why he never made any moves on her it's like a detached question without any feelings. Similarly Chihiro relates how her mother died -- in the movie her estranged brother calls and gives her the news -- but she doesn't actually feel anything about it. And yet usually when interacting with others she has a happy outward personality.

But in the end the new friends Chihiro has made are not enough to keep her there. She moves on and starts a new life as a farm hand, once again working her magic on people she meets...

It's a very slow movie. And yet it was interesting. Very much a show but not tell so there are parts with little dialog while you watch and figure out what's going on. It's a quiet character drama and I guess in the mood to watch it and enjoy it.