'Homeless Boy' is adapted from an autobiographical best-seller written by Tamura Hiroshi, a young, successful and prosperous Japanese comedian. It's not an epic—no heroes, no dragons, swords and magic; it's simply a story about a 14-year-old boy who faces unexpected poverty and about selfless love among siblings. "You all, take care of yourselves, dismissed!" says Hiroshi's single father, who then turns around and leaves with his old bicycle, leaving his three children behind. Their house has been seized by the authorities due to their father's bankruptcy. Hiroshi, not wanting to cause any trouble to his older brother and sister, lies to them, saying he's going to live in a friend's house, but actually he has nowhere to go except a park nearby. He eats cardboard and weeds, drinks fountain water and rain, and fights with little kids to defend his 'home.' As Hiroshi and his siblings try to make a better life for themselves, they cherish things that we consider 'deserved' and 'standard.' And because of their dire circumstances, the siblings become closer than ever before. Twenty-two-year-old Japanese idol Koike Teppei plays the main character, fourteen-year-old Hiroshi. He looks and acts younger than his age and fully gets into character by actually eating cardboard and weeds. For his performance, he won the 2008 Japanese Oscar for the best new actor award.

单词注释:

best-seller 暢銷、賣座的電影、書籍或戲劇

prosperous (adj.) 富庶的；成功的 poverty (n.) 貧窮；貧困

to dismiss (v.) 解散；打發

to leave someone/something behind 丟下；拋棄

weeds (n.) 雜草 to cherish (v.) 珍惜；珍愛

dire (adj.) 悲慘的；可怕的 main character 主角 to get into 投入；融入