“Like a Desperado Under the Eaves” was originally produced for the 2003 Jeonju Digital Project, which invites submissions by “passionate filmmakers who are competitively searching for the cinematic language at the very edge of film production.” Says director Aoyama Shinji: “When I was asked to produce this film, I wanted to freely draw a picture of my lethargic self when I was in the mid-twenties, drinking and cursing at the world, and without a job. I also depict the stories that happened around me at the time.” Some of these stories include a mysterious girlfriend who loans him money and shares his manuscripts with the world, a neighbor who is continually chanting and playing the drum, and a middle-aged man who screams in pain and who wants to be thrown out of the building. Akihiko, one of Aoyama’s recurring characters from the director’s Kitakyushu trilogy, writes and plays songs with a friend, but is too shy (or lethargic!) to play them in public, only watching while his friend performs. Aoyama presents a vivid picture of Japanese youth estranged from salaryman society.