![]() ![]() Bong-Joon-Ho (most famous for The Host) focuses on Tokyo’s otaku, shut-in culture, so it unsurprisingly offers little in the way of sightseeing. None of the films are made by a Japanese film-maker, which makes it – among other things – an intriguing synthesis of outsiders’ views of the city. Tokyo! is a pormanteau film in three parts. Tokyo! (Bong Joon-Ho, Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, 2008) Like most of Sono’s output, this film is definitely not for everyone, but viewers with a taste for the strange and chaotic will certainly find a lot to appreciate.ġ5. The characters are decidedly larger than life, the sets are are a kind of neon baroque in their mix of gaudily lit slums and red light districts, and much of the plot and action runs like an animated, rather than live-action, film. The plot revolves around the various gangs (or tribes) who control Tokyo’s underworld, and their conflict with the sadistic kingpin Lord Buppa. Throughout there is an almost continuous backing track of hip-hop and trap music. ![]() There are numerous musical interludes, and much of the exposition is rapped by the cast. The film can be described as something of a rap opera. Tokyo Tribe is no exception, and pushes the the more eccentric aspects of his style to even further reaches. Love Exposure continues to elude any consensus as to whether it’s a masterpiece or trash. ![]() ![]() Sion Sono has earned a worldwide reputation for his love it or hate it, eclectic, postmodern film-making. Taken in a group, however, along with the many films not included here, some kind of picture emerges-a fractured, chaotic, kaleidoscopic picture, certainly, but nonetheless a rich, mysterious one that invites continual contemplation and exploration. No director in his or her right mind would attempt something so self-evidently futile, not even-more arguably-those from Tokyo. It’s something of a cliche to claim that these outsiders tried and failed to capture the essence of Tokyo. The list contains many films by Japanese film-makers, but also some films by foreigners. This awareness of catastrophe, it has been suggested, leads to a heightened sense of life’s transience, and this in turn leads to Tokyo’s constant experimentation with fashions and styles. Even the quieter films that we’ve listed below are weighted down with an unshakeable historical awareness, be it of the bomb, natural disaster, or the shame of world war two. Many, if not all, of the most famous Tokyo films seem haunted by some huge, destructive nightmare at the edges of the action. The history of modern Tokyo is to some extent a history of coping with catastrophe. ![]()
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