The Beggar Student

Osamu Dazai, a fictional writer in his thirties, is consumed by dread after submitting a terrible manuscript. While moping in a Tokyo park, he encounters a boy drowning in an aqueduct. His attempt to flee leads to an unexpected confrontation and an intellectual spat with the high-school dropout. Dazai soon finds himself agreeing to narrate a film screening in the boy's place, kicking off a madcap adventure where destitution holds a strange glamor and sharp wit uncovers deeper truths.