Just when I thought I was done with COVID documentaries, along comes Tokyo Uber Blues, an unexpected gem that tells the personal story of a filmmaker who moves from a small town outside Tokyo to the city, taking up Uber bicycle deliveries after losing his job.
Tokyo Uber Blues caught me off guard and left a lasting impression. Shot almost entirely from the filmmaker’s bicycle, the film is presented in first-person through an iPhone and GoPro. While this approach could have easily resulted in a glorified YouTube vlog, the film stands out due to director Taku Aoyagi’s raw vulnerability and its incredible editing. It offers an unflinching look at the grueling reality of delivery work—how hard drivers toil, how little they earn, and how impossible it is to save money despite the relentless hours they put in just to get by.
The film feels like a working-class diary, revealing the lives of modern-day laborers, many of whom are classified as “independent contractors,” keeping the world fed while struggling to survive. What’s even more sobering is how this kind of precarious work is on the rise, while stable jobs grow scarcer and the number of billionaires continues to swell.
If it isn’t already clear, I absolutely loved this movie. It feels like a natural evolution of the YouTube generation, creating deeper, more meaningful work that embodies the essence of cinematic documentary. Much of Tokyo Uber Blues draws inspiration from the work and quotes of Ken Loach, a filmmaker renowned for his beautiful portrayals of working-class life. In fact, one of my other favorite films this year is Loach’s The Old Oak. I fully expect Tokyo Uber Blues to rank among my top 10 films of the year.
