Tokyo!

Three very different half-hour films combine to create an enjoyably skewed portrait of contemporary Tokyo, more satisfying than many anthology films. Gondry’s piece is based on a comic-strip by his partner Gabrielle Bell, and concerns...

Dir. Gondry/Carax/Joon-Ho France/Japan/South Korea/Germany 2008, 112 mins

Feat. Ayako Fujitani; Ryo Kase; Denis Lavant; Jean-Francois Balmer; Teruyuki Kagawa

Three very different half-hour films combine to create an enjoyably skewed portrait of contemporary Tokyo, more satisfying than many anthology films. Gondry’s piece is based on a comic-strip by his partner Gabrielle Bell, and concerns a young couple seeking their first apartment on limited funds. The girl Hiroko (played by Fujitani – Steven Seagal’s daughter, believe it or not) has difficulty adjusting to life in the big city until she finds herself a new role… Fans of Carax (Les Amants de Pont Neuf, Pola X) might have been expecting something a bit more substantial after waiting ten years for a new film, but his offering is certainly memorable and includes a great performance from Carax regular Denis Lavant as the sewer-dwelling neo-Godzilla Mr Merde. We finish with ‘Shaking Tokyo’, a gentle piece of sci-fi from Bong Joon-Ho (The Host) about a hermit pulled out of isolation by an earthquake.

Official webpage