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Movies / Upcoming / Tokyo!
Tokyo!

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Tokyo! (2009)

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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.

Genre: Foreign Films

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 [More]

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

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Reviews for Tokyo!

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
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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.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
10/18/08
Screen International

To each, the metropolis is a dense atom; its inhabitants, electrons crammed together but straining to avoid collision.

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
03/21/09
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

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.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
03/04/09
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

Some may consider it a callous critical evaluation. In truth, it's nothing short of a luxuriant love letter.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
06/21/09
Bill Gibron
Bill Gibron
PopMatters

Worth seeing for anyone who calls themselves a fan of any of its directors or weird anthology films in general.

Full Review Source: Movie Retriever | comment Comment
03/13/09
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
Movie Retriever

A collection of three films that try to capture the experience of living in that crowded Japanese city.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
04/24/09
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Taken together, the three movies in Tôkyô! create a frightful, smart, and lingering impression.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
05/07/09
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

Two out of three ain't bad for an evening's (very) light entertainment, set in the world's most modern, jangling metropolis, but beware Leos Carax's "Merde."

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/10/09
David Noh
David Noh
Film Journal International

With Tokyo itself playing a varied role in each film, the setting clearly served its purpose, inspiring three decidedly unique points of view.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
03/06/09
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

Like most anthologies, Tokyo! is artistically uneven and only mildly diverting, but it gives each of its three cult directors a foundation for personal takes on this fascinating city while using such genres as sci-fi and horror.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
03/14/09
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

There has yet to be an anthology film made where all of the shorts are of equal quality and that's certainly the case with Tokyo!.

Full Review Source: Giant Magazine | comment Comment
03/11/09
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
Giant Magazine

Tickles, repulses, and beguiles

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/25/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Three international directors turning Japanese!

Full Review Source: Movie Dearest | comment Comment
03/07/09
Fr. Chris Carpenter
Fr. Chris Carpenter
Movie Dearest

Three different short tales about the dark side of urban living with the Japanese city providing a backdrop.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
03/04/09
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Tokyo!, in lineage with (the yes, middling) New York Stories, however actually manages the exceedingly rare accomplishment of getting all three of its episodes right.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
03/11/09
George Wu
George Wu
culturevulture.net

Surrealism is on vivid display in this series of three shorts that form an ode to the city of Tokyo.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
08/28/08
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Mutants abound as each episode trips the light fantastic.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
03/03/09
J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
Village Voice

Paris, New York and even Toronto have all gotten their due in a recent wave of city-centric omnibus films that let world-renowned auteurs run wild in their streets. Yet none of these yielded anything as strange or as idiosyncratic as Tokyo!

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
06/05/09
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
Toronto Star

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

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
02/26/09
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Filmcritic.com

The most deft touch belongs to Gondry.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
06/05/09
Jim Slotek
Jim Slotek
Jam! Movies
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
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