A mildly compelling trio of films deficient in imagination, intrigue and subtlety, with exception of the brilliantly bizarre opening film, Interior Design.
Tokyo! (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:60
Fresh:45
Rotten:15
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: An imaginative, if uneven, love letter to a city that signals a great creative enterprise by its three contributing directors.
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:Mar 6, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $221,597
Synopsis:
In Tokyo!, three visionary directors (Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho) come together for an omnibus triptych examining the nature of one unforgettable city as it’s shaped by the...
In Tokyo!, three visionary directors (Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho) come together for an omnibus triptych examining the nature of one unforgettable city as it’s shaped by the disparate people who live, work (and run amok) inside an enormous, constantly evolving, densely populated Japanese megalopolis -- the enchanting and inimitable Tokyo.
Interior Design (Michel Gondry).
A young couple tries to set themselves up in Tokyo. The young man's ambition is clear -- to become a film director. His girlfriend, far more indecisive, cannot escape the vague feeling that she's losing control of her life. Directionless, both are beginning to go under in this vast city until the young woman, utterly alone, becomes the object of a bizarre transformation...
Merde(Leos Carax)
A mysterious creature spreads panic in the streets of Tokyo by means of his provocative and destructive behavior. This man, dubbed "The Creature of the Sewers" by the media, arouses both passion and repulsion...until the moment he is captured...
<>
Shaking Tokyo (Bong Joon-Ho)
For more than 10 years, he's been a hikikomori. He lives shut up in his apartment, strictly limiting all contact with the outside world to an absolute minimum. When a pizza delivery girl faints in his home during an earthquake, the unthinkable happens -- he falls in love. Shortly after, he learns that the girl has in turn become a hikikomori. Will he dare cross the threshold that separates his apartment from the rest of the world?
Rhapsody, psychogeography, urban valentine, freak show, mindwalk and many other things, Tokyo! is a fantasy in three movements that will make you see one of the world’s greatest cities -- if not any city -- with a new point of view.
In the tradition of such films as New York Stories, Night on Earth, Paris Je T'Aime and its forthcoming sequel New York I Love You, Tokyo! addresses the timeless question of whether we shape cities, or if cities shape us -- while in the process, revealing the rich humanity at the heart of modern urban life.
--© Official Site
Starring: Yuu Aoi, Jean-Francois Balmer, Julie Dreyfus, Ayako Fujitani
Starring: Yuu Aoi, Jean-Francois Balmer, Julie Dreyfus, Ayako Fujitani, Ryo Kase, Denis Lavant, Nao Omori, Teruyuki Kagawa, Naoto Takenaka, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa
Director: Oh Bong-Joon, Leos Carax, Michel Gondry
Director: Oh Bong-Joon, Leos Carax, Michel Gondry
Screenwriter: Oh Bong-Joon, Leos Carax, Michel Gondry
Studio: Liberation Entertainment
Reviews for Tokyo!
With Tokyo itself playing a varied role in each film, the setting clearly served its purpose, inspiring three decidedly unique points of view.
The refusal of Tokyo! to proffer even the most perfunctory air kiss is what makes it so intriguing.
The entries aren’t equally strong, of course, but each comes from a sharp outsider’s perspective, approaching Tokyo as a strange, mysterious organism that infects the populace.
Three different short tales about the dark side of urban living with the Japanese city providing a backdrop.
Tokyo! has no real reason for being, least of all as a city portrait. It’s disposable art-house tourism, made by filmmakers with too many festivals to attend.
For the new omnibus feature Tokyo!, Bong Joon-ho, Leos Carax and Michel Gondry were invited to make a film in the Japanese capital.
Tokyo! presents a generation of filmmakers who succumb to sodden, dull, solipsistic hipsterism -- not the life force of Boccaccio ‘70 or even 2007’s Paris, Je T’aime.
The cumulative strangeness of Tokyo! is consistent with the previous eccentricities of the three directors, and is well worth the time of any moviegoer looking for something different in their movie diet.
In this surprisingly rich anthology, it's not merely location that proves the primary connective tissue, but a sense of individuals struggling to cope with detachment.
More of a curiosity than a cohesive sampling of cinematic visions, "Tokyo!" fails to impress.
At its best, the movie is a stylish spin through the Tokyo universe, a play on the psychology and realities of one of the world's most urbanized societies
Taken as a whole, the three parts of Tokyo! provide a challenging picture of contemporary Japan.
An uneven but enjoyable trio of films that take affectionate (and sometimes literal) aim at the Japanese capital.
The directors lay down strong stamps of personality in their choice of subjects and mise-en-scenes, while employing touches of fantasy that range from teasingly surreal to unsubtly grotesque.
Unlike Asian horror omnibus Three Extremes, the directors of Tokyo ! have little in common and the Tokyo cityscape isn't enough to make them bond.
Surrealism is on vivid display in this series of three shorts that form an ode to the city of Tokyo.
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