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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 date; UK critics are listed first)
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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
splat

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: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 05:15 AM

Screen International

tomato
2.5/4

Sonny Bunch

If Tokyo! has a unifying idea, it's the devastating effect loneliness has on the psyche, an interesting choice given Tokyo's status as one of the world's densest cities.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 30 2009 12:13 PM

Washington Times

tomato

Fernando F. Croce

Tickles, repulses, and beguiles

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 25 2009 10:29 PM

CinePassion

tomato

Leo Goldsmith

Sandwiched between Gondry and Bong's variously euphoric entries, Carax's contribution seems either a work of deep cynicism from an inveterate party-pooper or a welcome satirical sour note from one of the great talents of 80s and 90s French cinema.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 08 2009 01:29 PM

Reverse Shot

tomato
4/5

Bill Gibron

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 21 2009 12:02 PM

PopMatters

tomato
3.5/5

Jim Slotek

The most deft touch belongs to Gondry.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 05 2009 12:48 PM

Jam! Movies

tomato
3/4

Jason Anderson

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: | comment Comment | Jun., 05 2009 10:39 AM

Toronto Star

tomato
3/4

Kate Taylor

Perhaps it is inevitable as three foreign directors train their lenses on that unique island culture of the East that all three are propelled by fantasy or science fiction, and suggest more alienation from Tokyo than affection for the great city.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 05 2009 03:15 AM

Globe and Mail

splat
2.5/4

Jeff Vice

The oddness is sort of refreshing.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 14 2009 04:53 PM

Deseret News, Salt Lake City

tomato

MaryAnn Johanson

This triptypch of short flicks about the Japanese capital by non-Japanese filmmakers is wildly intriguing to me, as someone who has never been there but would like to visit...

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 12 2009 12:50 PM

Flick Filosopher

tomato

Cynthia Fuchs

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 07 2009 06:42 AM

PopMatters

tomato
5/5

Ken Hanke

With the three-director -- Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Bong Joon-ho -- multistory film Tokyo!, the first really exciting piece of filmmaking of 2009 comes to town.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 29 2009 09:16 AM

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

tomato
3.5/4

Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 24 2009 10:36 AM

St. Paul Pioneer Press

splat
2/4

Colin Covert

Overall, Tokyo! is two-thirds of a good movie.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 23 2009 04:14 PM

Minneapolis Star Tribune

tomato
3/4

Steve Ramos

Grasping a unifying theme from the three distinct tales is one of the pleasures of watching the movie. Loneliness gets my vote, but Tokyo! is adventurous enough to spark many different theories.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 16 2009 04:57 PM

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

tomato
B-

Robin Clifford

Three very different directors...travel to the land of the lotus blossom to lend their collective eyes to a world that is Tokyo!

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 09 2009 09:14 PM

Reeling Reviews

tomato

Tricia Olszewski

Tokyo! wins points for one thing: These are stories you definitely haven't seen before, and nowadays originality is sometimes enough.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 09 2009 08:10 PM

Washington City Paper

splat

Philip Kennicott

All three films deal with things hidden, or disappearing, or suppressed. But Tokyo, if anything, becomes more of a mystery after Tokyo! than it was before.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 09 2009 07:04 PM

Washington Post

tomato
3/4

Joe Williams

Although each portion of Tokyo! has a distinct flavor, this sampler of undercooked fish stories has a cumulative effect, one that is trippy if not toxic.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 09 2009 06:41 PM

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

tomato
3/4

Steven Rea

Tokyo! is a must-see for the Gondry segment, and a strange, diverting pleasure for the rest.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 09 2009 05:25 PM

Philadelphia Inquirer

 
 
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