Learning to drive is a rite of passage that more Japanese men appear to be avoiding: The number of male drivers has been falling every year since 2009. The number of women drivers, by contrast, has been rising. Reasons for the drop include the decline of the car as a male status symbol. Back in the day, young bucks would dream of picking up girls with their snazzy new sportster; now they're more inclined to see owning a car as a hassle that begins with the lengthy, expensive process of getting a license.

So "Moriyamachu Driving School," Keisuke Toyoshima's quirky comedy about two former high school classmates who wind up in the same rural driving academy, has a retro feel to it, though the manga artist whose work inspired it, Keigo Shinzo, is all of 26. Yet the film points to a reality: Many young Japanese who feel a need to get behind the wheel sign up for driving boot camps out in the boonies, where they can get their licenses relatively quickly and cheaply. (My son was recently one of them.) The film's focus, however, is on the goofy, good-hearted Kiyotaka Sato (Shuhei Nomura) and the cool, closed-off Todoroki (Kento Kaku).

The former is a college kid who goes about life his own sweet, oblivious way (think a young Jim Carrey with darker hair), though he has a sort of girlfriend, his cute classmate (Yukino Kishii). One day he tells her that he will get his driver's license so that they can "go anywhere," which sort of makes sense. Soon after, however, while Kiyotaka is riding his mamachari (commuter bicycle), he is knocked down unconscious by a car. The driver is Todoroki, an apprentice gangster serving as an unlicensed chauffeur for his scowling boss (Ken Mitsuishi).