Tokyo!
Title: Tokyo!Rating: 4/5
Genre: Drama
Language: Japanese, French
A collection of three short films, each roughly 40mins in length, this was an independent film shown in Tokyo/Cannes film festival last year. Each piece utilises a different cast and story, with a strong surrealist approach, this has reminded me why I enjoy independent film. Whilst the budget in each case was small, it didn’t feel constrained. The use of effects was worked in such a way to appear natural, ‘hidden from view’ using simplistic techniques such as film editing to instantly change the shot and freeze frames (where its co-ordinated that everyone stops dead at the same time), it shows you don’t need expensive effects to create an effective scene. Since it was three separate short films, each deserves a short review themselves.
Interior Design: 3/5
Following the story of a young couple searching for an apartment in Tokyo, it has a heavy focus on the girlfriend of amateur film-maker, and the manner in which she copes with feelings of being invisible to her boyfriend, ambitiously preoccupied with his work. Whilst I felt the majority of the film was a lead-in to the eventual result (which it must be said, was rather bizarre), its strength is less on the leads and rather the unusual story being told. It was the most ‘normal’ story of them, and by the end on odd sort of morality comes through, an acceptance of her situation and decision to be as supportive as possible. This could have been explored in more detail, but was fairly interesting nonetheless.
Merde: 4.5/5
This is the sort of film that is a shame doesn’t get more widely recognised, successfully combining an emotional response with a comical one, his casting of the character ‘Merde’ couldn’t have been done much better. Following his life, captured in the sewers of Tokyo where he resided, he was put on trial for terrorising the streets of Tokyo. Instantly recognised by his unusual gait, torn green jacket, milky eye and ‘terrifying beard,’ this insane balding man who appears to have emerged from nowhere survives by eating cash and flowers, speaking a language spoken by only one other (if you’ve ever seen ‘Dark Crystal,’ think ‘skeksis,’ if they spoke a weird French-like dialect and slapped their cheek a lot). The comical aspect is probably fairly apparent already, but behind this is a creature, fearful for his life, completely and utterly foreign, and the fear of the unknown as a theme makes itself readily apparent. Simply brilliant. In fact, worth trying to find for this short alone.
Shaking Tokyo: 3.5/5
Following the story of the ultimate recluse, a man who hates eye contact and direct sunlight to the extent he has survived in his small apartment with his fixed routine for eleven years, until one fateful day he accidentally makes eye contact. This ends up being quite possibly the most bizarre love story I have ever watched, slightly convoluted in its message, which I took to mean that in order to get the most from life, you need to pursue your ambitions, overcoming any fears and distance in the process. The story is relatively simple, and the lead character, unused to showing emotion or being in any sort of company performs his ‘jittery’ character rather well. Despite this, its avant-garde nature feels poorly explained and, whilst novel, somewhat confusing, leaving a number of questions unanswered.
All of the films presented were nothing if not original concepts, and worked out well, given the length of each piece, so as to not feel as though it went on longer than necessary. Each with a sense of morality and purpose (though particularly in ‘Interior Design,’ this took a while to emerge), it combines to make an interesting viewing. Certainly not your average drama, and recommended to anyone who is intrigued by the notion of something a little different to shake up their regular viewing schedule.
Genre: Drama
Language: Japanese, French
A collection of three short films, each roughly 40mins in length, this was an independent film shown in Tokyo/Cannes film festival last year. Each piece utilises a different cast and story, with a strong surrealist approach, this has reminded me why I enjoy independent film. Whilst the budget in each case was small, it didn’t feel constrained. The use of effects was worked in such a way to appear natural, ‘hidden from view’ using simplistic techniques such as film editing to instantly change the shot and freeze frames (where its co-ordinated that everyone stops dead at the same time), it shows you don’t need expensive effects to create an effective scene. Since it was three separate short films, each deserves a short review themselves.
Interior Design: 3/5
Following the story of a young couple searching for an apartment in Tokyo, it has a heavy focus on the girlfriend of amateur film-maker, and the manner in which she copes with feelings of being invisible to her boyfriend, ambitiously preoccupied with his work. Whilst I felt the majority of the film was a lead-in to the eventual result (which it must be said, was rather bizarre), its strength is less on the leads and rather the unusual story being told. It was the most ‘normal’ story of them, and by the end on odd sort of morality comes through, an acceptance of her situation and decision to be as supportive as possible. This could have been explored in more detail, but was fairly interesting nonetheless.
Merde: 4.5/5
This is the sort of film that is a shame doesn’t get more widely recognised, successfully combining an emotional response with a comical one, his casting of the character ‘Merde’ couldn’t have been done much better. Following his life, captured in the sewers of Tokyo where he resided, he was put on trial for terrorising the streets of Tokyo. Instantly recognised by his unusual gait, torn green jacket, milky eye and ‘terrifying beard,’ this insane balding man who appears to have emerged from nowhere survives by eating cash and flowers, speaking a language spoken by only one other (if you’ve ever seen ‘Dark Crystal,’ think ‘skeksis,’ if they spoke a weird French-like dialect and slapped their cheek a lot). The comical aspect is probably fairly apparent already, but behind this is a creature, fearful for his life, completely and utterly foreign, and the fear of the unknown as a theme makes itself readily apparent. Simply brilliant. In fact, worth trying to find for this short alone.
Shaking Tokyo: 3.5/5
Following the story of the ultimate recluse, a man who hates eye contact and direct sunlight to the extent he has survived in his small apartment with his fixed routine for eleven years, until one fateful day he accidentally makes eye contact. This ends up being quite possibly the most bizarre love story I have ever watched, slightly convoluted in its message, which I took to mean that in order to get the most from life, you need to pursue your ambitions, overcoming any fears and distance in the process. The story is relatively simple, and the lead character, unused to showing emotion or being in any sort of company performs his ‘jittery’ character rather well. Despite this, its avant-garde nature feels poorly explained and, whilst novel, somewhat confusing, leaving a number of questions unanswered.
All of the films presented were nothing if not original concepts, and worked out well, given the length of each piece, so as to not feel as though it went on longer than necessary. Each with a sense of morality and purpose (though particularly in ‘Interior Design,’ this took a while to emerge), it combines to make an interesting viewing. Certainly not your average drama, and recommended to anyone who is intrigued by the notion of something a little different to shake up their regular viewing schedule.
Comments
Post a Comment